Telecommunications Matchmaker Trade Delegation

Singapore and Taipei, Taiwan

November 13-17, 2000

Export Promotion Services' Matchmaker Program, in cooperation with the Office of Telecommunications, and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), will lead a Telecommunications Matchmaker Trade Delegation to Taipei, Taiwan and Singapore, November 13-17, 2000. The Matchmaker will target telecommunication equipment and services. The focus of the delegation will be to match U.S. companies with qualified agents, distributors, representatives, licensees, and joint venture partners in those telecommunications markets.

Singapore has one of the most advanced telecommunications infrastructures in the world. The telecommunications network includes international transmission and maintenance centers, five frontier stations, three cable stations and three satellite earth stations. Singapore has led Southeast Asia in liberalizing its telecommunications regime. As a result of liberalization, a host of new opportunities for telecommunication services have opened up in Singapore. Singapore’s recent announcement of full liberalization will offer excellent opportunities for increased participation of U.S. companies in various segments of the industry; the foreign equity limit in Singapore has been lifted.

Over the next three years, Taiwan plans to spend an estimated US$6 billion to expand and upgrade its telecommunications infrastructure in order to support Taiwan’s rapid industrialization and economic growth. Telecommunications liberalization in Taiwan was initiated with the privatization of CT-2 service in December 1994. Taiwan’s telecommunications liberalization has stimulated demand for network infrastructure and customer premise equipment. In 1999, Taiwan’s imports of U.S.-made telecommunications equipment grew US$500 million, a 25% increase from 1998.

Participants will spend two days in Singapore, and two days in Taiwan. At each stop, the Commercial Service will provide an extensive market briefing highlighting opportunities in the telecommunications industry and recent policy developments, schedule one-on-one appointments with potential business partners for each participant, and arrange a reception to introduce the participants to key business and government officials in the telecommunications equipment and services industries.

Mission participants will arrive in Singapore, Sunday, November 12; participants will have two days of business meetings (November 13-14). The mission will travel to Taipei on November 15. Two days of business meetings will be scheduled for the delegation in Taipei. The Matchmaker will conclude the evening of Friday, November 17, 2000.

The Matchmaker will be promoted through the following venues: the Export Assistance Centers and Teams; TIA's weekly email newsletter "The Beat," and its monthly publication, "The Pulse"; the Federal Register; relevant trade publications; relevant trade associations; past Matchmaker and Commerce trade mission participants; various in-house and purchased industry lists, and on ITA's Internet home page.

Recruitment will begin immediately, and will close on September 8, 2000, approximately seven weeks prior to the start of the mission. The Matchmaker will target 15 companies. The participation fee for the event will be $2,950 per company.

• Relevance of the company's business line to mission goals
• Potential for business in the selected markets
• Timeliness of the company's completed application and payment of the mission participation fee
• Provision of adequate information on the company's products and/or services and communication of the company's primary objectives to facilitate appropriate matching with potential business partners
• Certification that the company meets Departmental guidelines for participation, including certification that the company's products and/or services are manufactured or produced in the United States, or, if manufactured/produced outside of the United States, the product/service must be marketed under the name of a U.S. firm and have U.S. content representing at least 51% of the value of the finished good or service.