Taiwan’s move to WiMAX underway

WiMAX licensee for northern Taiwan, First International Telecom (Fitel) is set to establish its WiMAX infrastructure with an initial purchase of 88 WiMAX base stations.

The 88 base stations, made by Motorola, have cost Fitel an estimated NT$220 million (US$6.8 million), which equates to NT$2.5 million per unit.

It is expected that an extra 200 WiMAX base stations will be bought in March-April 2008 by Fitel, who hope to increase their number of base stations to 500 by the end of the year.

Fitel hopes to launch its WiMAX service in Northern Taiwan in early 2009 - and will increase its number of base stations to 1,000 within a year of the launch.