A visit to Taiwan by a top Google Inc official suggests that the Internet titan is improving its relationship with policymakers amid a growing trend toward high-speed mobile connections, analysts said yesterday.
Marvin Ma, an analyst at International Data Corp, said by telephone that Google chairman Eric Schmidt “talked about how to improve the infrastructure of broadband, which is critical to the future of companies like Google.”
“The mobile-device market is growing fast, but some governments are too slow to release frequency spectrums or 4G licenses,” he said.
“If telecoms operators need to spend more to collect capital or are constrained by policies, infrastructure upgrades will be delayed, which will be unfavorable to Google,” he added.
In a keynote speech the previous day on how the IT business engages in innovation, Schmidt said Google and telecoms operators are “codependent” because consumers need fixed or wireless networks to access Google’s services.
Schmidt urged the government to help improve the legal -environment for the innovation community and adjust its policies to keep up with the growing pace of high-tech industries.
“Compared with South Korea, the Taiwanese government has not offered enough support to the mobile industry,” said Kelly Hsieh (謝雨珊), an associate manager at the Taipei-based Topology Research Institute.
“Google is eyeing the huge China market, but it is hard to build a data center there because of concerns about security and government censorship,” she said. “This is why Google decided to build a data center in Taiwan.”
Because some Taiwanese telecoms operators, such as Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), have formed close partnerships with China -Mobile Ltd (中國移動通信) on fiber networks, it will be easier for foreign companies to enter the China market with the help of Taiwan’s major carriers, Hsieh said.
Google announced on Sept. 28 that it plans to acquire 15 hectares of land in Changhua County for NT$3 billion (US$100 million) to build a data center that can provide the search engine’s users in Taiwan and Asia with faster access to its services.
The plan was welcomed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs as a project that will draw more foreign investment, while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) described Google’s decision as a gesture of support for his policy of positioning Taiwan as a global hub for innovation.
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