Taiwan's FITEL (First International Telecom), WiMAX licensee for the northern region of Taiwan, stated on March 24 that the company plans to commence its WiMAX service in October 2008, according to a report by Chinese-language Economic Daily News. In addition, FITEL has begun testing its dual-mode WiMAX phones, which come in both WiMAX/GSM and WiMAX/WCDMA models.

Meanwhile, FITEL has raised an additional capital of NT$900 million (US$29.8 million; US$1=NT$30.2) for the first phase. Major investors include Taiwan's Shin Kong Group, Public Financial Holdings, and SECOM. Other minor investors include UMC, Faraday Technology, Inventec Appliances, and Wistron NeWeb, according to the Economic Daily News report. FITEL's second-phase capital increase is expected to target overseas investors.