The Taiwanese cabinet has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to waive sales tax on 3G service providers for a five-year period. The exemption plan is designed to encourage the development of 3G services on the island, following the first commercial launches of the technology in recent weeks. The proposal will go before the government’s Li fa Yuan (Legislative Yuan) within the next two weeks for final approval.
Taiwan’s leading mobile equipment vendor BenQ has welcomed the news, but insists that 3G adoption will be a slow process. The company launched its first 3G handset this week and says it will have five phones on the shelves by the end of the year, but warned that it doesn’t expect to see a significant take-up of services until 2007.