Executives from the world's leading telecom companies will gather in Hong Kong this week for the industry's largest trade show with digital connectivity fast becoming an integral part of everyday life.
This edition of the triennial International Telecom Union (ITU) World Show will be the biggest yet and is where the sector's power-brokers will come to strike deals and meet government regulators.
Among the guest speakers are Cisco Systems chief executive John Chambers, Hewlett Packard chairman and chief executive Mark Hurd, PCCW (電訊盈科) chairman Richard Li (李澤楷) and Motorola chief executive Edward Zander.
The ITU Telecom World is also where the leading brands unveil new designs and technology. Some some 600 of the world's leading technology companies from 40 different countries will exhibit including Microsoft, Agilent, Sony Ericsson and Mitsubishi.
The event coincides with the release of an ITU report yesterday that showed digital technology had permeated almost every aspect of our lives thanks mainly to the spread of mobile phones, which are now owned by about 2 billion people worldwide.
"We're in the midst of a digital revolution," said Lara Srivastava, one of the authors the report entitled Internet Report 2006: Digital Life.
One person in two on the planet is expected to be a mobile phone user within two years, said the report.
"Around one in three people on the planet own a digital mobile phone today and they're hard pressed to be separated from it," Srivastava said.
The ITU estimates that Internet and communications markets -- consumer electronics, broadcasting, telecoms, computers -- are worth about US$3.13 trillion or 7 percent of global GDP.
It also said individuals were increasingly being tied into the flow of information.
"The fact that we now have an always-on mobile phone, that we have cookies that track our online behavior, have invaded our privacy a little bit," Srivastava said.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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