Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest telecoms operator, yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s largest telecoms company, China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), to build fourth-generation (4G) testing networks in Taiwan.
The announcement came after Far EasTone’s plan to sell a 12 percent stake to China Mobile was stalled because the Taiwanese government restricted Taiwanese telecom companies from selling shares to Chinese investors.
China Mobile representative Sha Yuejia (沙躍家) signed the MOU with Far EasTone in Taipei.
Based on the MOU, the partnership will help local telecoms equipment suppliers, chipmakers and end product manufacturers test their products in the TD-LTE lab built by Far EasTone in Taipei before hitting stores, a statement said.
The TD-LTE is a technology upgrade based on China’s 3G TD-CDMA technology, which was developed by Chinese firms with assistance from Beijing to reduce dependence on Western technologies.
The lab will help local companies that are developing devices supporting TD-LTE technology to save costs and testing time, the statement said. The lab will expand its services to interoperability testing in the future, it said.
Far EasTone said it expected to see breakthroughs in the lab in the current quarter, just seven months after operations began in October.
Last June, China Mobile also teamed up with another local 3G mobile operator Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信) to operate a similar TD-LTE lab in Taipei.
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