The National Communications Commission yesterday approved a merger between Vibo Telecom and Taiwan Star Telecom Corp.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said that Vibo provides third-generation (3G) telecom services, whereas Taiwan Star became a fourth-generation (4G) telecom operator this year.
“The direct funding from foreign investors would account for less than 1 percent of the total shares after the merger, whereas indirect investment would account for 47.119 percent, so the company has met the requirements stated in the Telecommunications Act (電信法),” Yu said.
Article 12 of the act says that a chairperson of a telecom company board should be a Taiwanese national.
The total direct shares held by foreigners may not exceed 49 percent, and the sum of direct and indirect shares held by foreigners may not exceed 60 percent.
Yu said that Taiwan Star would cease to exist after the merger, and Vibo, as the surviving company, is obligated to take over the 4G services offered by Taiwan Star.
However, the company will be renamed Taiwan Star after the merger is complete, Yu said.
“Vibo has a lot more subscribers than Taiwan Star, because the latter only began providing services this year. The arrangement is to ensure that a majority of existing subscribers will not be affected by the merger,” Yu said.
The commission also approved a new 3G license for Asia Pacific Telecom, as the company has raised its capital and changed its legal representative.
The new license states that the company has capital of NT$38.8 billion (US$1.3 billion), and direct and indirect shares in the company are 5.31 percent and 12.76 percent respectively.
Though Asia Pacific Telecom and Ambit, another telecommunications firm, announced a merger earlier this year, the commission said it has yet to see their application, though they have frequency blocks to offer 4G services.
Both firms have yet to secure 4G service licenses, the commission said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS