Far EasTone puts brakes on WIMAX

Far EasTone, a Taiwanese mobile operator, has said its WiMAX rollout plans are running a year behind schedule. The operator had previously said it was looking for commercial WiMAX launch Q1 2009.

“We are going to push out WiMAX on a commercial basis by the fourth quarter of this year, but will begin construction of the networks sometime soon,” Far EasTone president Jan Nilsson is reported to have said.

One of the reasons the company attributes to the delay is that it is ‘focusing on other projects’.

Far EasTone is one of six regional WiMAX licence holders in Taiwan, holding a 30MHz slice of spectrum in the 2.5GHz frequency band.

Although each of the island’s WiMAX licence holders has been forced to announced delays of some sort, primarily due to the economic downturn, VMAX is notably bullish end expects to roll out services this year.