Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Taiwan WiMAX licensee Fitel decides on fund raising

Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Monday 5 November 2007]

Shareholders of First International Telecom (Fitel), the only operator of low-power PHS (personal handy-phone system) mobile communication services in Taiwan and a WiMAX licensee for the northern region of Taiwan, at a provisional meeting on November 2 approved the company's plan to issue 250 million new shares for sale to target investors. The raised fund will be put towards building WiMAX infrastructure and operations, according to Fitel.

The private placement will be held in two rounds; first 100 million shares will be issued available to domestic target investors at a tentative price of NT$12 (US$0.37) per share, according to Fitel president Charlie Wu. In the second round, 150 million shares will be available for sale to overseas investors at a price hopefully higher than NT$12 per share, Wu pointed out. Fitel's board of directors will soon settle on the domestic and overseas sales prices, Wu noted.

Fitel plans to cooperate with Asustek Computer to offer a WiMAX/GSM dual-mode handset and is negotiating for the procurement of repeaters and PCMCIA cards with Quanta Computer, Wu indicated.

To minimize operating costs, Fitel has downsized its personnel from 760 employees originally to 700, of which about 200 will be assigned to WiMAX business, Wu pointed out.

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