- Vee Telecom Multimedia, one of Taiwan's six
WiMAX licensees, and US WiMAX carrier Clearwire were slated to sign a memorandum
of understanding on April 24, during Clearwire president Barry West's visit in
Taiwan, according to Chinese-language United Daily News. Clearwire will thus
become Vee Telecom's strategic partner and will provide assistance in
operations and technological issues. In addition to technological collaboration,
Clearwire was also expected to announce an investment for a stake of less than
10% in Vee Telecom, according to a report by Taiwan's China Times. As Vee
Telecom's overall capital currently stands at around NT$4.1 billion (US$121.84
million; US$1=NT$33.65), it is estimated that the amount of Clearwire's
investment will range from NT$300 million (US$8.92 million) to NT$400 million (US$11.89
million).
Furthermore, during West's visit in Taiwan, Clearwire
was expected to announce strategic partnership with Global Mobile, another
Taiwanese WiMAX licensee, too. However, it is as yet unclear whether the partnership
will extend to Clearwire's stakeholding in Global Mobile as well.
- Far EasTone Telecommunications, one of
Taiwan's six WiMAX licensees, said on April 23 that it will commence free WiMAX
trial in Taichung City, central Taiwan, starting in May, Taipei Times reported.
The trial run is scheduled to end in June, and commercial service is slated for
launch at year-end 2009. As for Far EasTone's WiMAX network expansion in
Taichung, Motorola has been selected for the supply of core network equipment.
The expansion project is slated for completion in the third quarter of this
year.
- YTLe (YTL e-Solutions), the Internet unit of
Malaysia's YTL Group, and Korea's Samsung announced an agreement on April 23 for
the deployment of a nationwide WiMAX network in Malaysia, according to Malaysia's
Business Times. Samsung is expected to provide WiMAX infrastructure equipment
such as base stations and end-to-end IMS (IP Multimedia Service) solutions, as
well as terminal devices such as mobile phones and MIDs (Mobile Internet
Devices), for YTLe. Previously YTLe announced that it plans to invest 2.5
billion Ringgits (US$696.38 million; US$1=3.59 Ringgits) in the nationwide
WiMAX network. The company expects to kick off commercial WiMAX voice, data,
and multimedia services in six to eight months, with the entire network construction
scheduled for completion in 14 months. Other than Samsung, YTLe has also
entered into an agreement with Cisco Services Malaysia for the establishment
and integration of WiMAX core network.