Internet

The Internet and E-Commerce in Taiwan

Taiwan holds a thriving Internet services market – as of September 2006, there were more than 9.71 million valid and active Internet subscribers, a penetration rate of 43%, and year-on-year growth of 3%. Much of the growth derived from an increase in the number of mobile Internet subscribers, which surpassed the number of wired Internet subscribers for the first time ever in March 2005.

Competition has intensified in the growing broadband services market, as liberalization measures have allowed the entry of private-sector fixed network companies. The number of broadband subscribers in Taiwan stood at 4.55 million at the end of 2006. Among these subscribers, 3.96 million used xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), 383,000 used cable modem, and 200,000 million used optical fiber, while 7,000 used leased lines to access the Internet -- 4,000 less compared to the number of subscribers in Q2 2006. On the other hand, the share of total accounts held by dial-up subscribers continued to fall, having declined from 20% in 2004 to 14% in 2005.

In the mobile internet-realm, CEPD's M-Taiwan Plan, which will create the world's first dual network environment, goes into full-scale implementation in 2007 through two sub-projects: a broadband pipeline construction project and a mobile applications project, both of which will improve Taiwan's global ranking for mobile Internet applications and raise the competitiveness of its cities. At the end of 2006, there were 9.15 million Mobile Internet subscribers in Taiwan. WAP and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) subscribers declined, while a growing number (4.62 million) of Mobile Internet subscribers were using 3G or PHS handsets to access the Internet at a growth rate of 20.2%. 3G data services are now taking place of the traditional GPRS ones in the mobile Internet data services.

Taiwan's business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) Internet services continue to see steady growth, and the government is taking an active role in nurturing the development of e-commerce while providing a safe and reliable environment for Internet users.

Government measures and policies in this regard include:

• Laws and regulations governing electronic contracts
• The extension of intellectual property rights protection to Internet applications such as linking, metatags, and framing
• Registration and management of domain names
• The replacement of traditional written documentation with electronic files
• A taxation system for e-commerce
• Regulations for online monetary transfers and securities transactions via the Internet
• Amendment of Criminal Law to include definition of Internet crimes and penalties
• Creation of an 'intranet' to promote resource-sharing among various government agencies and provide "single window" services for the public

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