Internet in Taiwan From 1970 to 2005

1. 6th APNG Camp in Kyoto Feb.21-23, 2005 Internet in TaiwanFrom 1970 to 2005 Rachel Huichieh Pang Chair of the 3rd TWING Camp MA student of Dept. of Journalism, NCCU http://rachelpang.idv.tw

2. Internet development in Taiwan • Introduction to Taiwan • Internet development in Taiwan • 70’s • 80’s • 90’s • Current Status • Online population • Growth of Broadband Market • Current status • Future of internet in Taiwan • Next step: Wireless project • Problem: digital divide among cities Source:CNA

3. Introduction to Taiwan • Geography • Taiwan island lies 200 km off the coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. • Length of Taiwan is 377km and width is 142km. The total area is about 36,000 sq km. • Capital: Taipei • Population • Total population at 2004 was 22.616 million. • The ratio of males to females was 50.93%:49.07%. • Language • Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka.

4. Internet Development in Taiwan70’s : Development of ICT and related industries. • 1975 • Taiwan had a contract with the Stanford Research International in USA for getting internet related techniques. • 1976 • Taiwan started to develop its own cable communication industry with the investment from Japanese companies.

5. Internet Development in Taiwan80’s : Rise of academic institutions/corporations • 1980 • The Science Based Park and 2 academic institutions, which was known as Industrial Technology Research Institute(ITRI) and Information Industrial Institution(III), had been set in order to develope related techniques. • 1986 • With IBM’s help, Department of Education in Taiwan established the information service station in some important universities. • 1987 • The first internet was built and connected through RSCS by Department of Education and SUT. • 1988 • III started a project called SEED, which helped developing the opening network in Taiwan. But it then soon closed due to the against of communication regulation law.

6. Internet Development in Taiwan90’s : Rise of related institutions/competitive corporations • 1990 • TCP IP became a common standard for academic institutions to connect and it then helped TANet to come out. • 1991 • TANet connected to JvNCnet, which was offered by Princeton University, and opened to all users in Taiwan. • 1994 • Taiwan started NII project in order to appeal foreign companies to invest in Taiwan. • SeedNet became the first legal private ISP provider and started to compete with HINET, which used to be the only ISP provider in TW.

7. Internet Development in TaiwanFrom 70’s to 90’s • Development of techniques and related industries: • Government and foreign investment were 2 main forces promoted the development of ICT and related industries. • New ISP companys started to rise in 90’s but the main control was still owned by Hinet, which used to be the only legal ISP company in Taiwan. • Internet growth: • The penetration of internet was 3% in 1996 and 22% in 1999. Users were very limited due to expensive cost and low speed of internet access. • University students were main users at 90’s because they could get on line through free internet access offered by TANet or other academic institutions.The main purpose they got on line was using BBS system for connecting. That was the reason why BBS bacame extremely popular among college students in Taiwan.

8. Internet Development in TaiwanCurrent status: Growth of online population(2000-2004) FIND, ECRC, III sponsored by DOIT,MOEA Telecom statistics offered by DGT, MTC.

9. Internet Development in TaiwanCurrent status: Broadband adoption in Taiwan 2000-2003 FIND, ECRC, III sponsored by DOIT,MOEA Telecom statistics offered by DGT, MTC.

10. Internet Development in TaiwanCurrent status: Internet population and broadband adoption • Internet population: • there’re 13.8 millions internet users (60.25%) and over 4.63 millions(65.02%) household with internet acceess in Taiwan now. • InternetAccess • Broadband is the most popular way to access internet. Over 53.78% of individual users(10.31 millions) and 3.82 millions households get on line through broadband. Only 2.38 millions(12.44%) of them are wireless users. • The most preferred option for broadband is Adsl. Among the adsl subscribers, 82.42% of them subscribe Hinet. TWNIC Survey(2005,Jan)

11. Internet Development in TaiwanCurrent status: Analysis of internet users • Internet users usually access internet: • At Home(92.11%) • From pm 8:00 to 10:00 (30%) • For browsing webpages(67.51%), Email(48.65%) and searching information(19.63%). TWNIC Survey(2005,Jan)

12. Internet Development in TaiwanCurrent status: DAI of Taiwan ranked No.9 of the world • The DAI of Taiwan ranked No.9 of the world. Ranked No.3 after South Korea and HK in the Asia-Pacific area. Telecom statistics offered by DGT, MTC.

13. Internet Development in TaiwanNext step: Wireless connection and boundless city • In order to improve the development of wireless lane, Taipei, the capital of Taiwan and the city with highest ratio of internet access, started to promote wireless project (known as WiFly) last year. Most MRT station now offer free wireless internet access. And according to government’s announcement, WLAN may be available in anywhere of Taipei city by the end of 2005. (2005.06) (2005.12) (2005.03) http://wifly.com.tw

14. Internet Development in TaiwanNext step: Solve the digital divide among cities. • Social divide among cities is now getting more serious than before. It’s due to the unequal development of internet foundation establishment. Taipei and Kaohsiung are 2 main cities with most economic resources and the best internet related establishment. They’re also cities with the highest ratio of household with internet access. But status of cities on southern part and eastern part are totally different. How to ease the digital divide and social divide it may cause may be the biggest problem we need to solve. http://wifly.com.tw

15. reference • 張大裕(1999)。網際網路發展的政治經濟分析。世新大學傳播研究所碩士論文。