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The government plans to make mobile
communications networks ubiquitous in the country by 2008 under a project called
"Mobile Taiwan, " according to officials of the Science and Technology Advisory
Group (STAG) of the Executive Yuan.
The "Mobile Taiwan" project forms
part of the "10 new major construction programs" initiated by the Executive Yuan
to make Taiwan into a "green silicon island" within six years, the STAG
officials said.
Lin Feng-ching, deputy convener of
the STAG, said that the government hopes to transform the country by setting up
the basic infrastructure needed to create a system whereby cellular phone
network services, information technology computer platforms and broadband
Internet links would be combined.
So far, the government has earmarked
NT$7 billion (US$219 million) for the establishment of public WLAN (wireless
local area networking) and application services, NT$30 billion for local
authorities to build a total of 6,000 kilometers of broadband fixed Internet
links and "10 mobile cities" plus "15 special mobile districts" around Taiwan by
2008.
The "10 mobile cities" plan will
provide 8 million subscribers across Taiwan with easy access to the Internet
through WLAN and their mobile phones anywhere in Taiwan, turning the nation into
the world's fifth most competitive country in terms of e-business applications.
This in turn, it is hoped, will boost tourism, help maintain public order and
better manage traffic.
According to Lin, the result will be a "triple win" – for consumers, the
government and businesses -- and will help the government develop the
telecommunications industry into a key sector, along with the semiconductor and
panel display sectors, capable of yielding an annual production value of more
than NT$1 trillion. | 