Far EasTone unveils revised 3G investment plan

Taiwanese mobile operator Far EasTone Telecommunications says it will spend TWD4 billion on rolling out its 3G network this year, approximately half the sum it originally earmarked for UMTS in 2004, and that it hopes to launch its high speed mobile network by the middle of 2005. By the end of this year Far EasTone hopes to have deployed 1,100 3G base stations, primarily in urban zones including the greater Taipei area and the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park. However, the operator’s president Jan Nilsson remains cautious over the timetable for commercial services, saying that his company would launch only ‘when the market is ready for it’.