Great Wall Tech to build $630 million broadband network
By Reuters staff
11 April 2000
Computer maker Great Wall Technology Co Ltd said on Tuesday it will invest 5.2 billion yuan over the next three years into a new broadband Internet access network in China to meet growing demand for multimedia services. Great Wall said it has already invested 100 million yuan to set up Great Wall Broadband Network Service Co Ltd (GWBN) and will have invested 300 million yuan within six months, vice president Wang Zhirong told a news conference.
"Half of the (5.2 billion yuan) investment would be from our own resources," Wang said. "The other half we'll have to think about, but it will likely be a combination of bank loans and cash from the equity market."
GWBN aimed to provide services that connect broadband networks at low cost and to develop value-added services such as Internet browsers, distance learning and e-commerce.
"There are too many people in China, and they all need to be on the Internet. There is great demand," Wang said.
The network would concentrate on high-density residential apartment blocks in China and had contracts in Chengdu, Shanghai, Kunming, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Beijing.
Great Wall deputy chairman Lu Ming said it was a conservative estimate that the network would cover five million users in the next three years.
Great Wall's announcement follows an announcement last week by dominant China PC maker Legend Group that it will split into two parts - a manufacturing company and a new one that will focus on Internet-based services and e-commerce products.
Great Wall, which was listed in August 1999, is primarily a maker of disk drives and other computer peripherals, but in December broke ground on a new PC manufacturing plant in the southern city of Shenzhen.
The plant, said by the official Securities Times to be the largest personal computer project in China, will have an annual capacity of one million PCs when it opens in the first quarter of 2001.
Great Wall shares rose 2.74 percent or HK$0.20 on Tuesday to close at HK$7.50.
The head office for the new GWBN unit was located in Beijing after permission for a business licence was granted by Beijing authorities on April 3, Great Wall said in a statement. |
