The Merger between Far EasTone Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom

　　Telecommunication industry in Taiwan is moving into a new era! Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd. (FET) announced today (25th Feb) that it has officially completed the signing of a merger agreement with Asia Pacific Telecom Co., Ltd. (APT). FET anticipates issuing 357 million new shares in in the stock-for-stock merger with APT.  As the surviving company in the merger, FET will emerge with the greatest sequential spectrum bands across 4G and 5G.  With such great efficiency in spectrum, FET is expecting to serve consumers and enterprise customers with prominent network experience and better services, as well as smart ICT applications and solution, benefitting all the stakeholders of the Company.  Through the effective use of resources and economies of scale, FET builds a happy enterprise and improves environmental sustainability, creating a win-win situation for everyone.

　　FET and APT held their own board meetings and signed the merger agreement today. “Back in September, 2020, FET and APT has entered into 5G spectrum and network sharing agreement on 3.5GHz band for promoting 5G services and maximizing the return on spectrum and network investment.  FET and APT kicked on such operation since August 2021 after receiving approvals from National Communications Commission (NCC) and Fair Trade Commission (FTC).  The results are very promising, benefitting 5G customers from both companies.  Today, aiming at a higher goal, FET and APT decided to merge together.  With the perfect match of the spectrum resources and post-consolidation economies of scale, we can provide the world-class communications services for larger scale of customers and enterprises, increase the effectiveness on network deployment, and accelerate profit growths. Environmental sustainability can be further improved by making the most use of resources and saving the energy. “ said Chairman Douglas Hsu of Far EasTone Telecom .

　　After consolidation, FET will have the greatest sequential spectrum on 700MHz in the industry and be able to immediately enhance 4G network capacity and 5G indoor penetration through existing radio network, maximizing the transmitted power of 700MHz low-frequency signals, largely expanding 5G coverage across the public transportations, open terrain, and deep indoor penetration of high density areas. With the existing mid and high frequency bands of 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 3.5GHz and 28GHz held by FET, FET will provide customers of both companies with better network experiences. With the combined 40MHz sequential spectrum on 2600MHz TDD acquired with only 20% cost of 3.5GHz by both companies, along with the 80MHz on 3.5GHz band held by FET, a larger 5G bandwidth will be offered not only for consumers and but for enterprises on 5G private network.  Additionally, the combined 800MHz sequential spectrum on 28GHz provides opportunities for communications satellites.

　　President Chee Ching of FET says: “As a role model of digital transformation enterprise, Far EasTone pioneered the industry and deployed World #1 5G network, develops the core competence of 5G B.A.I” (Big Data, AI, IoT) technology, information security and cloud, provides enterprises with the digital transformation and smart solutions, these all contributed the strong growth of FET’s new economy revenue. APT not only holds the perfect-matched spectrum with FET, but has been deep plowing the enterprise market for many years, based on APT’s fixed-line resources, ICT and system integration experience, and resources of Foxconn Group, connecting upstream and downstream value chain in the industry.  The merger between FET and APT will generate greater synergies on developing innovated services and applications for consumers, families and enterprises, such as 5G metaverse.”　

　　In terms of users’ rights, the merger will bring together 9.2 million users.  The contracts of APT’s customers remain unchanged, and customers of both companies will be able to take advantage of a large-scale of network resource and a greatly improved customer experience.  APT customers will be benefited from FET’s friDay video, friDay shopping, unique offerings of FET Mobile Circle, and the best customer services awarded for 10 consecutive years.  With a greater improvement on the investment return of FET network, plus the synergies from diversified industries covered under Far Eastern Group, FET will be able to provide consumers in Taiwan with a wider variety of telecommunications and digital services at an affordable price.

　　This merger will bring positive impacts on customers, shareholders, business partners and other stakeholders of both companies and will encourage the healthy development of the industry.  Following the signing of the agreement, the management teams of two companies will work on an employee placement plan. It is hoped that the deal will quickly receive the support and approvals from regulatory authorities so that the merger can be finalized and accelerate opening a new chapter in Taiwan’s telecom history.  After all, the consumer will be the biggest winner.

　　Rapid 5G development in Taiwan accelerated digital transformation in enterprises, however, the power consumption of base stations created threats to the environment at the same time.  Through effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analysis, FET identified the best locations for the stations and proceeded with optimization.  With the less number of base stations, in September 2021, FET ranked World #1 in 5G, far surpassing the peers in Taiwan and the runner-up in South Korea.  Starting in August 2021, FET’s spectrum and network sharing with APT set a precedent in Taiwan telecom history, by eliminating a set of 5G base station and saving energy, allowing more consumers to enjoy the benefits of 5G. After consolidation, FET will further optimize the spectrum and network infrastructure from both sides, based on FET’s capability in effective use of network resource and energy saving, in hope of bringing substantial contributions to the environmental sustainability in Taiwan.

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