Dotcom companies in Taiwan may have hit rough times -- closing shop, laying off workers, or merging with foreign partners -- but that hasn't halted Internet use nationwide, which continues to climb.
The number of people surfing in cyberspace increased to 5.94 million over the past three months, up some 370,000 since June, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Although ISPs -- Internet Service Providers providing 56k or lower speed services -- account for over five million of all connections, the amount of people choosing high speed broadband connections via cable modem or ADSL service has shot up in the period by 25 percent.
Determining the number of Net users in Taiwan, however, appears to be a numbers game worse in accuracy than Florida voting-counting machines. International Net research firm iamasia.com estimates the nation's Internet population at 6.4 million -- a half million more than official figures. Determining the real number of users is made more difficult because more than one user may access the Net from one Internet account. In all, Internet research firm NetValue estimates that 43 percent of Taiwan families are connected to the Net.
Aside from the growth in Internet use, a good sign for dot.com companies' bottom lines is the growth in e-shoppers. According to market researchers Taylor Nelson Sofres, the number of Taiwanese Net shoppers has jumped 127 percent over last year to just over half a million.
"We've also seen an impressive increase in the average amount of money spent online and a growing range of products Internet consumers choose from," said Olivier Faucon, manager at Taylor Nelson Sofres-Taiwan.
High-speed broadband Internet use has also grown. Cable modem users, subscribing to companies like Gigamedia (
But high connection speeds come at a price. Cable modem service costs up to NT$1,199 per month for premium, "always on" service. To compete with the lower cost of ADSL service, Gigamedia has launched a NT$299 monthly deal, but users get only 20 hours per month and it is only capable of downloads.
A cheaper alternative is ADSL service. ADSL, which converts conventional phone lines into high-speed lines with a download speed of 512kbps, have grown faster due to price wars between service providers. HiNet announced special prices as low as NT$499 per month in September, but competitor SeedNet countered with a NT$299 offer for similar service.
The most important consideration for consumers deciding whether or not to pay for broadband service is determining exactly what the consumer wants to use the Net for, according to Carl Nicolai, head of Internet ISP, Transend.
He said most of the service speeds and price structures are similar, but a consumer should "change services if [the ADSL or cable modem company] don't deliver" on promised download speeds.
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