Ride-hailing company is dissatisfied with Ministry of Transportation proposals

Taiwan News    
Date: 2019/03/27 
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – United States ride-hailing company Uber Technologies is considering a withdrawal from Taiwan again due to new regulations proposed by the government, Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review reported Wednesday.

The new law would require Uber to charge hourly and daily fares instead of a rate based on the distance, while hailing a Uber car on the street would also be banned, the report said.

Because of the Ministry of Transportation’s proposals to changing the rules, it would become difficult for Uber to run “properly,” leading to an eventual reconsideration of all its operations, the company’s policy chief for North Asia Emilie Potvin told the Nikkei Asian Review.

The plans pit rental car agencies, which work with Uber, against taxi drivers, who put up strong resistance about the competition from the American company.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/27
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s economy showed signs of weakening in February as an

index gauging local economic fundamentals continued flashing a yellow-blue light indicating sluggish growth, the National Development Council (NCD) said Wednesday.

The composite index of monitoring indicators for February dropped three points from a month earlier to 17 and remained flashing the yellow-blue light due mainly to fewer work days in the month.

The NDC employs a five-color system to rate Taiwan’s economic performance according to nine indicators.

A blue light (9-16 points) indicates a contracting economy, yellow-blue (17-22) represents sluggishness, green (23-31) signals stable growth, yellow-red (32-37) refers to a warming economy, and red (38-45) points to an overheated economy.    [FULL  STORY]

DELISTING: Regulations mandate that listed firms’ shares be banned from trading if they post negative net value. CPT’s book value came in at minus-NT$0.7 last year

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 28, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Financially troubled LCD panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管)

yesterday said that its book value slid into the red last year, pushing the stock to the brink of being delisted from the stock market.

CPT is the second subsidiary of local home appliances maker Tatung Co (大同) to face the imminent risk of having its shares banned from trading in the near future, following Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技).

The LCD panelmaker saw losses balloon to NT$17.73 billion (US$574.6 million) in the final quarter of last year, from losses of NT$2.61 billion in the previous quarter, dragged by a persistent industry oversupply and impairment losses from its 26 percent shareholding in CPT Technology Group Co (華映科技).

For the full year, CPT posted losses of NT$19.61 billion, a reversal of net profits of NT$2.99 billion in 2017.    [FULL  STORY]

ASUS denies Kaspersky Lab allegations that malware came from compromised server

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/26 
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As many as half a million computers might have installed malware disguised as an update from electronics giant ASUS after the Taiwanese company’s server was hacked, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

A report in Motherboard magazine quotes researchers at the Russian company saying that the practice lasted five months last year before it was discovered.

The attack, dubbed “ShadowHammer,” involved hacking a server at Asustek Computer Inc. to send malware disguised as software updates from the Taiwanese company. The files were even signed with ASUS “digital certificates” to make them look authentic, Motherboard reported.

The original malware then went on to install backdoors on up to 500,000 Windows computers which would allow the hackers to launch even more malware later on.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/26
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) China Steel Corp., the largest steel maker in Taiwan, has

decided to raise employee wages by 3.5 percent after posting its highest net profit in eight years.

A board meeting held on Monday approved the wage hike plan, which is expected to take effect April 1, marking the seventh consecutive year the steel maker has raised wages, China Steel said.

It is also the second consecutive year China Steel has hiked salaries by 3.5 percent, the company said. From 2013-2017, wage increases ranged from 2.2-2.8 percent.

China Steel said the company currently has a workforce of about 10,300 and along with bonuses the upcoming salary hike is expected to increase labor costs by more than NT$700 million (US$22.7 million) a year.    [FULL  STORY]

MORE SERVICES: Far EasTone’s president said that the telecom does not intend to shed its role as a traditional telecom, but it intends to offer more than just SIM cards

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 26, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) aims to boost the revenue

contribution of “new economy” services to 20 percent over the next three to five years to limit the impact of eroding traditional services, the telecom said yesterday.

To stem a revenue slide, Far EasTone last year set up a “transformation office” to step up overhaul efforts, as the company looks primarily to “new economy” services — businesses related to big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) — to increase revenue sources.

Leveraging those technologies, Far EasTone provides cybersecurity solutions, cloud-based solutions and IoT services for enterprise customers, as well as digital services such as online music streaming and mobile commerce for consumers, the company said.

“In Taiwan, traditional telecom service revenue began sliding in 2015. From 2016 to 2017, telecom services in Taiwan fell 3 percent,” Ching Chee (井琪), Far EasTone’s new president and acting head of the transformation office, told the media yesterday.
[FULL  STOIRY]

First electronic payment service released by a convenience store in Taiwan available March 27

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/25 
By: Duncan Deaeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Family Mart convenience store chain in Taiwan has announced the launch of “My Famipay” a cashless payment service app that can be downloaded on any smart phone.

The “My Famipay” app makes Family Mart the first convenience store in the country to develop its own signature electronic payment service.

The app is set to be available for download from March 27, according to the press release, but will initially only be offered to people with credit cards issued by Taixin International Bank (台新銀行) or Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行).

The app just requires that a user link the app to a credit card. Then users can complete purchases with a quick scan of the products and their cellphone at any Family Mart check out.    [FULL  STORY]