Mainland China Comes Up With Lucrative WiMAX Procurement Deals

Mainland China will buy an estimated 100 billion yuan worth of WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) equipment to boost security in its 33 major cities, according to a senior official of the Taiwan government backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

BS Lin, Director General of the institute`s Information & Communications Research Laboratories, recently said the mainland`s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) plans to make most of WiMAX technology to improve disaster rescue, relief aid and anti-terrorism capabilities in 33 major cities around the mainland.

The administration`s WiMAX plan, he estimated, would create business opportunities worth 100 billion Chinese yuan, which he believed would become a windfall to Taiwanese equipment suppliers including chip designers MediaTek Inc, Realtek Semiconductor Co Ltd, and VIA Technologies Inc; mobile phone makers Inventec Corp, Compal Communications Inc, and Foxxcon; and consumer-premise equipment (CPE) makers Tecom Co Ltd, D-Link Corp, Accton Wireless Broadband Corp, and Accton Technology Corp.

Tecom`s Chairman, CK Liu, estimated Taiwanese CPE makers would definitely win sizable contracts in the procurement deals although the mainland`s authorities would intentionally place orders for infrastructure equipment with the mainland`s homegrown suppliers like Huawei Technologies Co, ZTE Corp, and Datang Telecom Technology Co.

SARFT has allotted one block of 700MHz spectrum for WiMAX services, rather than the 2.5GHz spectrum block assigned in the West.

Industry watchers pointed out that many second-tier cities in the mainland like Xiamen and Hangzhou were setting up experimental WiMAX networks.

The mainland recently organized a telecom trade mission to negotiate with its Taiwan counterparts in Taipei over collaboration on the business. Representatives from ITRI and the mainland`s telecom service providers were prime members in the talks.

Source: CENS