 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| .tw Taiwan |
Overview Manufacturing and ICT equipment production remain Taiwan’s key economic sectors, while the service sectors of finance, commerce and transportation are the largest employer. Foreign exchange reserves stood at over US$200 billion at the end of 2003, and economic growth for 2004 is forecasted at 4.5 percent. The economy remains robust due in part to a policy of internationalisation and liberalisation. The government continues to implement the Challenge 2008 National Development Plan, popularly referred to as Challenge 2008, which covers the period 2002 - 2007. This strategic plan emphasizes such goals as strengthening international competitiveness, upgrading the quality of life and promoting sustainable development. It is designed around ten programmes and involves substantial investments in manpower, R&D and innovation, logistics networks and the living environment. It also aims to achieve significant political, financial and fiscal reforms. Progress has been made in the various programmes notwithstanding the economic downturn and the SARS outbreak in 2003. Industries Telecommunications All sectors of the telecommunications market in Taiwan have been opened up for competition. Among them, mobile telecommunications services and international telephone services have become the most competitive. There are more than 400 companies competing in the telecommunications services sector. The competition has obviously worked as evident in the number of mobile phone subscribers soaring to 25 million by the end of 2003 bringing the penetration rate to 111 percent. Taiwan was ranked ninth in the world and third in Asia by ITU’s digital access index released in November 2003. The other countries in the top ten, which were almost exclusively European and Asian, were Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, South Korea, Norway, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Finland and Canada. Taiwan also was rated first in the world for mobile phone penetration, fourth for broadband Internet penetration, and fifth for fixed telephone penetration. Chunghwa Telecom remains the largest operator in the market in terms of the number of subscribers, minutes of usage, and revenue. Taiwan Cellular had merged with TransAsia Telecommunications in May 2001, while Far EasTone Telecommunications and KG Telecoms, the third and fourth largest mobile operators, initiated merger negotiations in July 2003. The mobile phone market was served by eight operators before it was opened to competition. It has been transformed during the five years following liberalisation, and there are now one small and three large operators. Progress of the three new fixed network telecommunications operators, which received their licences in 2000, has been hindered by the slow construction of "last mile" connections. Consequently, they have focused on international calls and corporate subscribers. Internet and broadband Telecommunications liberalisation has brought about rapid growth in Taiwan’s online population and increased Internet usage by individuals and companies. According to survey findings of the Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan had a total Internet population of 8.8 million with a penetration rate of 39 percent in December 2003, an increase of 17 percent from that in December 1999. Another survey conducted by the institute in August 2003 showed that 57 percent of households were online, representing a 4 percent increase over the same month in 2002. The
number of broadband subscribers has seen rapid growth since 2001 when the government
began promoting the service. The campaign led to the broadband subscriber base
expanding from 262,800 at the end of 2000 to 3,043,300 in December 2003, an increase
of 2.8 million subscribers. According to the same August 2003 survey, broadband
users. . . . . the complete text of this chapter is available for purchase and
immediate download as a PDF file, please click here
for more information. |
| 2005/2006 edition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Archives of Updates to: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2003/2004 edition 
2005/2006 edition