Taiwan 3G licence holders to form 3G alliance

April 23, 2005

Taiwan's five 3G mobile licence holders have established a 3G mobile service R&D alliance aimed at promoting their services and to create new applications for mobile 3G service.

The five licencees are Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Cellular, Far EasTone, VIBO Telecom and Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications.

Since the 3G licences were awarded on February 2002 for a total of US$1.4billion, only VIBO and Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications have launched 3G services. The other three are expected to launch early next year.

The government will partly fund the alliance in a hope that this will speed up the launch and widespread use of 3G mobile services in Taiwan. It hopes to attract handset makers and content providers to be part of the alliance and co-operate on 3G standards specifications for interfaces and technical regulations.

"The government could provide 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the research costs, but the companies will also have to contribute," said Wei Chung-chien, an official at Taiwan's Department of Industrial Technology.

The alliance will initially conduct a four-month pilot project to encourage local development of mobile content to be offered through 3G services such as news and gaming services.

The vice president of Taiwan Cellular already has doubts on the alliance because previous similar effects have failed.

Taiwan is not a nation of data users unlike Japan and Western Europe. Only 5%-10% of Taiwan's mobile operators' revenues come from data services while the large portion of the reminder is from voice communications.