NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701), a leading network, communications and information technology company, announced today that Tatung InfoComm Co., Ltd. (Tatung)(1) launched commercial WiMAX services in Taiwan utilizing WiMAX system deployed by NEC.

These new commercial services were launched in Taiwan's southern prefecture of Pingdong and the eastern coastal prefecture of Hualian. Population coverage (outdoors) is above 80%. In addition to the mobile Internet access that these commercial services provide for general users, they are also expected to contribute to the support of network infrastructure for public services, including the medical and educational fields. In May 2010, similar services are also scheduled to launch in Gaoxiong prefecture, adjacent to Pingdong.

During these past years, NEC and Tatung have provided trial WiMAX services to public institutions as part of the "M-Taiwan Project"(2), which promotes the construction of an advanced information oriented society and the cultivation of domestic industry. NEC's trial system met each of the project's demands, including base station capacity, high speed transmission/handoff and others. As a result of these trials, and as a participating operator/vendor in the M-Taiwan Project, NEC was officially authorized to launch commercial services.

In June 2008, NEC established the "WiMAX R&D Center" in Taiwan as part of the company's M-Taiwan Project activities. The center carried out CPE vendor interoperability testing with NEC WiMAX base stations and terminals in preparation for NEC's commercial services. Furthermore, the center is open to the development and verification of application services by service providers and software vendors, which contributes to the cultivation of Taiwan's WiMAX and WiMAX related industries.

"Today's commercial services meet the requirements of the government's M-Taiwan Project and are a direct result of the cooperation between Tatung and NEC," said Don Lin, president of Tatung InfoComm Co., Ltd. "As a leader in the Taiwanese WiMAX market, we look forward to continuing our work with NEC, to proactively expanding our business domain."

"NEC is honored to have worked with Tatung towards the development of these commercial services," said, Tadashi Ugajin, General Manager of International Sales Division, NEC Corporation. "The launch of these services is an important first step in providing WiMAX technologies throughout Taiwan. Looking forward, NEC and Tatung aim to drive the continued growth of WiMAX services and to reinforce our cooperative business."

source:acnnewswire