Taiwan to spend $664 mln on WiMax development

By Sheena Lee

TAIPEI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan pledged on Monday to invest US$664 million over the next few years on WiMax, as it agreed to work with five major manufacturers to develop technology for the emerging next-generation wireless standard.

Officials from the five manufacturing partners, Motorola (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Sprint Nextel (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Starent Networks (STAR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the networking unit of Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), all joined in a ceremony in Taipei to mark the new agreement.

Taiwan has been an aggressive advocate of WiMax, awarding six licences in July for the standard, billed as much faster than current third-generation (3G) mobile services, with an eye to taking a slice of the fast-growing high-speed data market.

Taiwan economics minister Steve Chen said the WiMax services sector in Taiwan alone would be worth US$4.24 billion by 2012.

"The signing of the memorandums of understanding will signify a step forward in the global development of WiMax technology," he said at the ceremony. The five partners agreed to help develop WiMax products and services in Taiwan, but gave few additional details.

Alcatel-Lucent has said it will open a WiMax research and development centre in Taiwan. Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier and a big WiMax booster, also said on Monday it would consider setting up a similar centre.

"By setting up a lab here, we will be able to offer a range of equipment, devices, applications and to help the industry develop further devices and infrastructure," said Patrick Plas, COO of GSM/WiMax at Alcatel Lucent.

Taiwan has become a "WiMax role model" for Asia and the rest of the world, said Simon Leung, Asia Pacific president for Motorola, another strong WiMax booster.