Taiwan Mobile Exec: HSPA to Overtake WiMAX

HSPDA will overtake WiMAX as the preferred technology within Taiwan over the next two to three years - says Taiwan Mobile's chief business officer Cliff Lai. The operator is currently deploying a HSPA upgrade in the central and southern regions of Taiwan. The upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and the rest of the country covered by the end of 2008.

"In terms of technological development, 3.5G is mature relative to WiMAX," Lai told the DigiTimes publication. "Although WiMAX offers quicker access to the Internet than 3.5G, demand for mobile access to the Internet at such speeds is lower than that for fixed-line access, Lai pointed out. In addition, WiMAX incurs much higher base station deployment costs than that of 3.5G," Lai indicated.

Taiwan Mobile did not win a WiMAX license in the recent auctions - but does not rule out bidding in the next round of license auctions in 2009.

Taiwan Mobile ended the first half of this year with a market share of just under 28%, making it the country's second largest operator, according to figures from the Mobile World database. The operator ended the period with some 6.2 million subscribers, of which just under a million are using the 3G network.

On the web: DigiTimes

Posted to the site on 26th October 2007