The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is planning to help create the nation's third "trillion dollar" industry, minister of economic affairs-designate Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said yesterday.
Ho, currently the vice chairwoman of the Council for Eco-nomic Planning and Development, said during an exclusive interview with CNA that the MOEA is working with other ministries and Cabinet-level agencies on a plan to turn the nation's telecommunications industry into an "NT$1 trillion a year" sector.
The country's semiconductor manufacturing industry and its biotechnology industry both already generate more than NT$1 trillion a year in revenues.
Ho, who will replace Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) in the new Cabinet to be sworn in after President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration on May 20, said that after the relevant projects are implemented, the telecommunications products and services sector is expected to create business worth at least NT$1 trillion a year.
This is also expected to drive other related industries, including the construction sector, to create some NT$39 billion (US$1.17 billion) worth of business and 10,000 new jobs annually.
Under the supra-division plan, Ho said, the development and applications of wireless telecommunications, including third-generation (3G) mobile connectability and regional broadband transmission, will be further advanced.
The plan is aimed at further lowering Internet utility rates by 30 percent to 80 percent to make the nation's rate one of the 10 lowest in the world.
Also part of the plan is the laying of 6,000km of fiber-optic cables to provide broadband Internet connectability for 8 million subscribers and to make Taiwan one of the top five countries in the world in terms of mobile and wireless Internet infrastructure, Ho added.
The telecommunications production, technology and service development plan is one of the government's ambitious "10 New Major Development Projects."
The 10 projects together will require a a budget totally NT$500 billion over five years starting this year.
RSS