By the end of next year, Taipei City will become the first city where people will be able to access the Internet with their notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or even mobile phones via wireless networks wherever they go, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma made the announcement during a press conference that was also attended by Carly Fiorina, chairman and CEO of computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co (HP), who was in town for a two-day business visit.
HP is serving as chief consultant of the city's "M-City" (mobile city) project.
"We are entering an era where every physical process is becoming digital, mobile, virtual and personal," Fiorina said.
"Digital, mobile and virtual are perhaps obvious, but personal is all about the individual citizen or the individual consumer being more able to control their own lives and experience. This, I think, is also what M-City is all about," she added.
HP, along with other consultants including Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp and Cisco System Inc, will provide advice on design and applications for the project's five segments.
Elaborating on HP's role in the project, Andy Lai (賴昭輝), a general manager of HP Taiwan, said the company would offer suggestions on how government departments and companies can apply wireless Internet access to facilitate their business, as well as bringing in viable business models for companies.
One example Lai mentioned is a "music bar" project in conjunction with Starbucks. In a partnership with HP, Starbucks opened its first "Hear Music Coffeehouse" in its stores in March in Santa Monica, California. These facilities allow customers to create their own music compilations from a digital library and burn them to CD.
This business model can also be introduced to local companies interested in setting up kiosks that enable music or file downloading via wireless connection in the city, Lai said.
The project will be implemented by Qware Systems Inc (安源資訊), an arm of Uni-President Group (統一集團), whose tender was accepted in August. Qware will invest US$70 million to build the wireless infrastructure around Taipei, starting with 20 MRT stations, where the service is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
By June next year, the wireless service will provide access to 50 percent of Taipei's 2.6 million residents. This number is projected to climb to over 90 percent by the end of next year.
Currently, the city government has completed wireless infrastructure covering a 6,000m2 area in Taipei's Xinyi district.
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