Starting from yesterday, around 50 percent of Taipei City's population was covered by wireless Internet connections, and the figure will go up to 90 percent by June next year, the city government said.
The city's wireless infrastructure, or Wifly, made its official debut yesterday after trials started in September last year. It is part of the government's "M-City" (mobile city) project that aims to turn the city into a wireless haven.
With the wireless connection, residents can easily access the Web via their laptops or personal digital assistants, even saving call charges if they have phones equipped with Skype, an Internet-phone software.
It was earlier reported that the target date for 90 percent coverage was early next year.
"There are some technical glitches to overcome, such as a number of wireless signal disturbances in the public area, which delayed the progress of the project," said Oliver Yang (
He said that the company is working toward meeting the 90-percent coverage goal next year.
The recently completed second phase covers 28.2km2 of the city, with wireless connection extended to major business areas, including the Xinyi, Ximending and Dunhua districts, as well as underground malls connected to mass rapid transit (MRT) stations.
The first phase was completed in January this year, covering 30 MRT stations and 150m of their surrounding neighborhoods. The coverage was 20 percent of the city's population at that time.
Starting next month, Wifly users will need to pay a fee.
The proposed fees, which are pending approval from the city government, include a subscription rate of NT$399 per month, or prepaid rates of NT$500 per month and NT$100 per day, according to Q-ware.
As the contractor is looking for other business models to increase revenues, it doesn't rule out the possibility of lowering subscription fees in the future to attract a larger user base, Yang said.
"As Wifly now has around 60,000 active members for the free trial period, we need to see if the new payment model will work out," he said.
For more information, go to www.wifly.com.tw.
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