Taiwan Mobile has agreed to acquire rival mobile operator Taiwan Star Telecom, also known as T Star or originally Vibo Telecom. The deal gives Taiwan Mobile additional spectrum resources to build out its 5G coverage. It will pay for the takeover with the issue of 282 million new shares
The company said the merger with T Star will create a new 5G "Team Taiwan". Taiwan Mobile will increase its holdings in the key 3.5GHz spectrum band to 100 MHz and grow its network to 11,000 3.5GHz 5G base stations. The operator said it will be able to provide high-quality 5G service to 90 percent of the population and cover 95 percent of Taiwan’s communication traffic.
The merger still requires approval from the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
Taiwan Mobile underlined that the merger will improve efficiency in the sector, which does "not need four or five 5G networks", it said. This is especially true given the increasingly tight supply of electricity and the heavy footprint of power generation on the environment, it noted. Once the merger is completed, the operator can shut down the 3G network and eliminate many redundant 4G base stations. Over the longer term, after T Star’s 5G network is taken out of service, annual power savings will reach 100-200 million kWh, Taiwan Mobile estimates.
The additional spectrum also will help the operator develop new 5G services for industry verticals. Taiwan mobile plans to use some of T Star’s 40 MHz block on the 3.5GHz spectrum to provide dedicated network services for enterprises.
The merged group's other spectrum holdings will include T Star’s 900MHz and 2600 MHz band frequencies and the 700MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 3.5GHz and 28GHz spectrum held by Taiwan Mobile. In the future, the merged network will enable 5G NR aggregation of up to seven carrier bands, the company expects.
In terms of customers, the merged group will count 9.8 million users. T Star customers will benefit from a 1.5-fold increase in 4G coverage and 3-fold increase in 5G coverage, without a change in rates, Taiwan Mobile said. They will also gain access to a much larger retail network for better service.
