| Since the liberalization of the Taiwanese telecommunications industry in 1996, as of the end of December 2005, there had been 100 firms in the first-category telecom businesses and 597 firms in the second-category telecom businesses. In 2005, the government opened up the application for licenses for single fixed-network telecom business, allowing players to apply for licenses for international, long-distance and local telephone business, thereby achieving complete liberalization of the market.
In 2006, the mobile telecom market will be characterized by three major trends. First, 3G (third generation) mobile phone will gradually replace 2G (second generation) mobile phones, leading to the emergence of related added value services. Secondly, custom-made handsets will become a focus of future development, resulting in even closer cooperation between handset makers and mobile communications carriers. Meanwhile, mobile and fixed-network telecom businesses will develop in the direction of integrated services, giving rise to new IP (Internet Protocol) telecom network.
In order to eliminate digital gap, in line with the Digital Taiwan Plan formulated by the Sci-tech Advisory Panel of the Executive Yuan, the Directorate General of Telecommunications has been promoting the "broadband for every village" plan, pushing players to map out projects for the construction and maintenance of broadband networks in remote areas. The effort has scored considerable achievements, as currently the broadband penetration rate for basic-level administrative districts (village or li) has reached 99.01% and the penetration rate for remote areas has also topped 90.47%. (A village or li will be regarded as an area covered by broadband service so long as one ADSL, or Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line, reaches its area.) |
