Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) expects its acquisition of Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) to boost revenue next year after the merger is completed in the fourth quarter of this year, the company said yesterday.
Although the National Communications Commission approved the NT$24.7 billion (US$811.11 million) acquisition in January, it still requires approval from the Fair Trade Commission.
“We believe we will be able to complete the merger by the fourth quarter once the Fair Trade Commission approves the deal,” Far EasTone president Chee Ching (井琪) told a news conference in Taipei. “About 70 to 80 percent of base station consolidation would be finished in the fourth quarter.”
Photo courtesy of Far EasTone Telecommunications Co
The consolidation of base stations would save costs next year as equipment depreciations and other expenditures would improve significantly, Ching said.
Far EasTone has said that most of the merger’s benefits would come from cost-saving measures through the integration of the telecoms base stations and spectrum sharing.
The revenue contribution from Asia Pacific Telecom would be more obvious next year based on a consolidated income statement, Ching added.
Asia Pacific generated about NT$13 billion in revenue last year, she said.
Far EasTone previously estimated the deal would create NT$3 billion in benefits within one year of the merger.
Far EasTone said it expects significant changes in the nation’s telecom industry to end price competition.
Telecom operators have to offer innovative services to cater to subscribers’ needs, Ching said.
Far EasTone aims to grow revenue from its digital content business by 8 percent annually this year and 30 percent from its e-commerce business, FriDay Shopping, she said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the