Taiwan to Benefit From Broadband Booms Worldwide

With quite a few countries in the world actively moving to promote constructions of broadband Internet accesses, global demand for such related devices as handsets, notebook PCs, MIDs (mobile Internet devices), Netbook PCs and smartphones, is expected to break 50 billion units in 2010, with Taiwan, a critical manufacturing base of electronics, most likely to benefit from the broadband booms, according to Stefan Johansson, General Manager of Ericsson`s Taiwan branch.

Citing market surveys and projections by related institutes, Johansson indicated that the number of mobile phone users, after exceeding 4 billion last year, is estimated to break 5 billion at the end of 2010 as the earliest, 6 billion in 2012 and 7 billion in 2014. In the next 5 years, he added, new users in mainland China, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa will mainly contribute to the growth.

Overall, the telecom industry will turn to IP services, such as digital transmissions and VoIP application service, instead of traditional voice services, to prop up business operations. This will certainly spur more demand for network devices and applications. So far, Ericsson noted, more than 1,000 kinds of related products, like wireless network cards and Netbook PCs, have been actively promoted by over 140 companies worldwide.

To take advantage of mature development of IT and electronics industries in Taiwan and help firms tap the global broadband boom, Ericsson, the world`s largest telecom equipment and solution supplier, has already set up an IOT (Interoperability Testing) lab on the island, providing related testing and certification services for local companies. So far, a total of 10 large-sized Taiwanese companies, including High Tech Computer Corp, Compal Communications Inc, Quanta Computer Inc and Inventec Corp, have been certificated by Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) via the IOT lab.

Besides, Johansson stated, Ecrisson also considers establishing another IOT lab of LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G communication technology in Taiwan, and cooperating with Taiwanese makers on development of LTE-compatible terminal devices in the future.

Worth mentioning is that Ericsson, with an inertia in market outlooks of WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access), has no plan to set up a WiMAX IOT lab on the island, even though Taiwan has been actively developing related technology and applications over the past few years.

Source: CENS