Wireless local area network (WLAN) companies have to cooperate with mobile-phone operators for further development, since users need seamless wireless coverage to get online -- both indoor and outdoor, an industry pundit said yesterday.
"To make the mobile Internet service more accessible and ensure users can surf the Web while on the move or at certain locations, connections to local area and phone networks will be needed," said Simon Hsu (徐玉學), a telecom analyst at Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究), at an industry seminar held at the Taipei International Convention Center.
Topology is an information-technology industry research center established in May. It is funded by several local companies, including China Development Industrial Bank (
WLANs are data communications systems that enable users to surf the Internet without cables via a radio frequency. Currently, companies such as Yaw Jenq Technology Co (曜正科技), Yam Digital Technology Co (蕃薯藤), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), and Mobitai Communications Co (東信) are offering WLAN service at about 500 "hot" locations in Taiwan, such as airports, hotels, department stores and coffee shops.
While companies have claimed that WLAN service is suitable for those who want to sit down in certain places and use notebook or personal digital assistants, "users that need timely information while on the move will want broadband mobile service such as GPRS connections," Hsu said.
An industry professional who also attended yesterday's seminar said similar types of cooperative practices between WLAN and mobile-phone operators have begun to appear in Western countries.
"Some companies in North America and Europe have started to implement such integration," said Hermann Hunag (
The practice works through the use of wireless Internet modules which can detect both GPRS and WLAN signals, Huang said.
When users are outdoors, their devices will connect to GPRS networks and when they enter a location where WLAN service is available the device will seamlessly reconnect itself to the WLAN site, he said.
Topology's Hsu said, however, that it may take years before the network becomes a viable service.
"The price of a dual-function module is nearly US$300 each -- most consumers would be unwilling to pay for it," he said.
In addition, the industry is still searching for a device that is as light as a cellphone and yet functions like a PDA or a notebook PC.
"Nevertheless, wireless players will have to follow this trend," Hsu said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is