First International Telecom Deploys Motorola’s WiMAX Network in Taiwan

9 April 2008

Motorola and its trusted partner UTStarcom are working with First International Telecom (Fitel), a major telecom operator in Taiwan, to deploy a WiMAX network as a part of the operator’s commitment to the M-Taiwan project. Fitel received its operator license to provide WiMAX services for northern Taiwan in July 2007. It is Motorola’s third WiMAX project secured in Taiwan in the last eight months.

“The next generation personal wireless broadband service will enable rich media entertainment and high-speed data applications to be delivered to our customers. The new network will expand our service offerings and is critical to our future business growth,” said Charlie Wu, president of Fitel.

Fitel provides mobile communications services through its PHS network to over 1 million subscribers. In order to expand its mobile services, Fitel has been participating in the M-Taiwan project and has acquired spectrum for the WiMAX network in northern Taiwan.

“The WiMAX network project with Fitel underscores Motorola’s leadership in the industry. Our solutions and services enable Fitel to provide cutting-edge wireless broadband services to its customers quickly,” said Simon Leung, president of Motorola Asia Pacific.

“This win reflects our rapid development of the WiMAX networks and the growing demand for Motorola’s WiMAX solutions in the region and worldwide. This year, we expect the industry to launch several commercial WiMAX systems with a wide variety of customer premises equipment, PC cards, mobile devices, and innovative applications,” Simon Leung added.

Fitel targets to complete and start testing the WiMAX base stations in the downtown area of Taipei by first half of 2008. The M-Taiwan project is a government initiative to accelerate WiMAX ecosystem development and create a city-wide broadband network to support wireless broadband services to consumers.

Charlie Wu added, “Motorola is a leading provider of WiMAX technology, and we are pleased to work with them in the design, supply and deployment of a high performance, reliable and scalable WiMAX network for advanced applications and future expansion. Working with Motorola has an added benefit in that we also become part of the global WiMAX ecosystem.”