Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) expects a proposed merger with Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) to add at least NT$3 billion (US$107 million) in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the first year of combination, mostly from savings in operating expenses regarding network deployment and operation.
Far EasTone on Friday unveiled its plan to acquire APT via a share-swap deal valued at about NT$24.7 billion.
The company plans to issue 356.7 million new shares for APT shareholders, it said.
“This [NT$3 billion] is a rather conservative estimate,” Far EasTone president Chee Ching (井琪) told an online investors’ conference
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said it is to merge with Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) in a share swap worth about NT$24.7 billion (US$881.48 million), which would be the latest consolidation in Taiwan’s telecom industry.
Based on the statement, each share of Asia Pacific Telecom would be swapped for 0.093 Far EasTone shares.
The deal is expected to be completed on Sept. 30.
The announcement follows a plan by Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) to acquire smaller peer Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星) for NT$28.2 billion.
Originally, Far EasTone had planned to increase its stake in Asia Pacific to 23.8 percent this year
Soi Cheang Pou Soi’s Limbo leads the field for the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards with a remarkable 14 nominations, the organisers announced at a press conference on Wednesday. A visually striking, black-and-white crime thriller that tells a nihilistic tale of despair and redemption set in a city rotten to the ground, Limbo stars Lam Ka Tung and Mason Lee.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday called on its local peers to set “rational” 5G flat rates, as the low rates in the market are harmful to the industry.
Far EasTone said that a monthly rate of NT$1,399 for unlimited data is too low to make a decent profit after deducting a handset subsidy of about NT$400.
The market situation contributed to poor financial performances by the nation’s smaller telecoms such as Taiwan Star Corp (台灣之星) and Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信), the company said.
Telecoms registered a surge in data traffic when many Taiwanese worked from home during a level 3
The government has limited means when asking telecoms to lower 5G fees, despite customer complaints, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The nation’s 5G services came under scrutiny at a meeting at the legislature’s Transportation Committee last week, as the technology’s penetration rate remained at about 12 percent since telecoms launched services in June last year.
Lawmakers said that one of the main reasons that people did not upgrade their 4G services to the faster standards was the high rates, urging the NCC to meet with telecom representatives to negotiate their prices within two weeks.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) and other