Taiwan Mobile has bought a 14.9% stake in local 4G player Ambit Microsystems and a 5MHz chunk of its spectrum for a total NT6.41bn (US$211.18m).
The telco said its acquisitions will boost the coverage of both networks, while accelerating the speed of…
Taiwan Mobile has bought a 14.9% stake in local 4G player Ambit Microsystems and a 5MHz chunk of its spectrum for a total NT6.41bn (US$211.18m).
The telco said its acquisitions will boost the coverage of both networks, while accelerating the speed of its 4G service from 100mb/s to 140mb/s.
It paid NT$2.98bn (US$99.3m) for the equity stake and NT$3.433bn (US$113.27m) for frequencies in the 700MHz band. The deals require regulatory approval.
Ambit, which is owned by Taiwanese device maker Foxconn, bought those frequencies last October as the group sought to diversify after its PC and phone manufacturing unit came under pressure.
It later spent US$387m on a stake in local mobile operator Asia Pacific Telecom (APT), which plans to merge with Ambit via a share swap. APT will be the surviving company in that merger once it is approved by regulators.
Despite now holding 20MHz of spectrum after its Ambit deal, Taiwan Mobile’s management told investors it still planned to take part in the country’s 2.6GHz spectrum auction next year.
