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Wifly adds more hotspots to promote wireless access

Wifly, Taipei's wireless network service, has recently added more hotspots to offer Web surfers ubiquitous Internet access, its operator said yesterday.

New hotspots, or wireless access areas, can now be found in most fast food and beverage chains, such as Burger King, MOS Burger and QK Coffee.

The fast-rising cafe chain 85?C (美食達人), which has around 240 outlets conveniently located around the country, will soon offer Wifly service too, said Chang Sheng (張聖), vice president of the wireless business group at Q-ware Systems and Services Corp (安源資訊), contractor for the Wifly project.

These new hotspots will complement services already available at places like Starbucks, 7-Eleven convenience stores and mass rapid transit stations, bringing the total number of hotspots to more than 4,000, he said.

Wifly, a global pioneer in offering citywide wireless coverage, began formal operations in January last year.

The wireless initiative began with free trials in September 2004 and is part of the government's "M-City" (mobile city) project, which aims to turn Taipei into a wireless city.

Wireless surfers accounted for 12 percent of the population last year, up 60 percent from a year ago, the semi-official Institute for Information Industry (資策會) said.

The booming wireless market has attracted other operators to the local market.

Fon SA, a Madrid-based community WiFi developer, announced last month the launch of its service in Taiwan, offering an alternative for local users to obtain free or low-cost Internet access.

Fon's service allows users with wireless routers to share some of their bandwidth at home, and get free access to the Internet wherever there is Fon coverage.

Chang said Wifly welcomes competition as it has a comprehensive network of hotspots and a better business model.

"With Starbucks, 7-Eleven and other chains backing us up, we should be able to generate more revenue than Fon," he said.

Chang said Wifly was set to launch new service packages in March, which would be similar to Fon's in allowing users to share their bandwidth with others. But he refused to disclose details.

Q-ware Systems has been aggressively pushing Wifly to enterprise users, he said, adding that the total user base should increase to 300,000 by the year-end from the current 110,000.
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