Macquarie, Carlyle may buy stake in Taiwan Mobile

Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd and America's private equity firm Carlyle Group plan to buy a 21% stake in Taiwan Mobile Co, sources reported.

Taiwan Mobile may introduce strategic investors to compete with rival state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co, local media reported last year, quoting the general manager of the Taiwanese mobile operator Harvey Chang as saying.

The island's second-largest telecom service carrier is betting with Chunghwa Telecom Co on a combination of cellular phone services, fixed lines and cable television networks. It said at the beginning of this month it plans to invest in the optical fiber next-generation network (NGN) to offer integrated telecom services, aiming to be the second local telecom company to make the jump to NGNs after Chunghwa.