China Mobile to take stake in Taiwan's Far EasTone

China Mobile Ltd agreed to buy 12 percent of Taiwan's Far EasTone Telecommunications Co, the first direct investment by a mainland State-owned company in the island in six decades.

China Mobile will pay NT$17.8 billion ($528 million) for the stake, gaining access to advanced technology as it prepares to start high-speed services in the mainland. Far EasTone will tie up with the biggest phone company in the world's largest telecommunications market.

"Taiwan is in a more advanced stage of development in both 3G-technology application and value-added data services," China Mobile said in a statement yesterday. The deal will "help the company provide more comprehensive services to its customers".