■TELECOMS
4G auction wraps up
Europe’s first auction of “fourth generation” frequencies, which promise to revolutionize what mobile phones can do, raised more than 4.3 billion euros (US$5.3 billion), German authorities said on Thursday. The auction, which began on April 12 in the western city of Mainz, wrapped up after 224 rounds of bidding and with the coveted licenses going to four sector giants, a Federal Network Agency spokesman said. Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and O2 claimed the top licenses while E-Plus clinched lesser-value contracts. The total made from the auction marked a windfall for state coffers but fell far short of the 50 billion euros generated from the sale of third-generation UMTS licenses in 2000. The fourth generation Long Term Evolution networks are expected to be up and running soon and experts are confident that the new technology will not disappoint. The new technology will allow users to view high-definition videos on mobile phones, with their ability to transfer data at much higher speeds.
■FINANCE
Public-sector wages cut
The Spanish government says it will cut the wages of government employees in a bid to save 15.25 billion euros over two years and help reduce the nation’s deficit. Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the measures, which will cut civil servants’ wages by an average of 5 percent from next month, were approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. Workers earning below 949 euros a month will be exempt, but pay packets and retirement pensions will be frozen from next year, finance minister Elena Salgado said. Salgado said the spending cuts were aimed at bringing Spain’s large deficit back to the EU limit of 3 percent by 2013.
■NATURAL GAS
Mozambique signs deal
Mozambique on Thursday signed a US$100 million deal with donors to finance part of a major expansion in natural gas production. The French development agency AFD and the Development Bank of Southern Africa signed the deal with the state-owned Companhia Mocambicana de Hidrocarbonetos (CMH) in the capital Maputo. The financing will fund CMH’s 25 percent contribution to the US$400 million expansion of natural gas production in southern Inhambane Province, the company’s chairman John Kachamila said. Sasol Petroleum Temane, part of South African oil giant Sasol, owns 70 percent of the project. Started in 2004, the scheme produces 120 million gigajoules (GJ) of natural gas a year. The expansion will increase up production by more than half. Mozambique will keep 36 million GJ, while the rest will be exported. Minerals minister Esperanca Bias last year said that sales from the project earned US$230 million in 2008.
■GAMING
Casino operator expands
Las Vegas Sands Corp says it has secured US$1.75 billion in financing to build its next two phases of development in Macau. The Las Vegas-based casino company said on Thursday that the money will be used to build hotels along with casino, convention and retail space in the Cotai area of the Chinese gambling enclave. Sands chief executive Sheldon Adelson says a total of 6,000 hotel rooms will be built in phases to attract large conventions and trade shows. Adelson says the development’s first phase includes 3,700 hotel rooms and will open during the third quarter of next year. Another 2,300 hotel rooms will open in 2012. The company already owns three casino-resorts in Macau.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
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