Fri, Jul 21, 2000 page17

• Far EasTone connects to Internet users

  MOBILE MEDIA With its new ISP, the nation's third-largest mobile telecom provider hopes to make the Internet accessible from anywhere, anytime

  • By Dan Nystedt / STAFF REPORTER
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  In one of the first steps by a Taiwan company toward offering Internet services that fit both the wireless and fixed-line markets, Far EasTone (遠傳電) launched FetNet (遠傳網路) yesterday, a new Internet Service Provider (ISP).

  According to Far EasTone President Joseph O'Konek, the new ISP is aimed at the company's 2.5 million mobile phone service customers as well as Taiwan's estimated 4.5 million Internet users. He also hopes the service, along with the new portal site, www.fetnet.net, can bridge the gap between Web sites that provide services for mobile devices and desktop devices.

  According to O'Konek, offering Internet services over the airwaves on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and along fixed lines puts Far EasTone in the unique position of developing services for customers -- both current and future -- who use both modes of Net access.

  

  A woman looks at the homepage of FetNet, a new Internet Service Provider that utilizes an STM-1 digital fiber-optic cable backbone to provide high speed Internet connections and customer support. The new ISP is being launched by Far EasTone to combine wireless and fixed-line Internet services.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  The development of mobile Internet access has led to the idea that the Internet will be accessible from anywhere, anytime.

  Devices made for the Web-connected world carry the Internet in very different ways. Desktop PCs access a high resolution, graphics-oriented Internet while the wireless Web on mobile phones can only carry a few sentences of information at a time.

  Currently, the two modes of Internet are accessed at different ports. Most desktop Net surfers go through the World Wide Web, and mobile device users connect through WAP.

  But although these two ports connect to the same Internet, it is not easy to access, for example, the same e-mail account.

  The idea of unifying services such as e-mail so that they can work in both wireless and fixed-line devices is called convergence, and FetNet's portal site is designed to perform this task, according to O'Konek.

  FetNet e-mail, he said, can be easily accessed by mobile devices, desktops, or whatever device is convenient for the user. In the office, it can be downloaded to the user's e-mailbox on a notebook computer. On a mobile phone, the same e-mail can be converted to a voice message.

  According to Nathan Lin (林宗賢), telecommunications industry analyst at National Securities (建弘證券), offering both mobile and dial-up Internet access is a good move for Far EasTone.

  Lin noted, however, that the current form of wireless Internet -- WAP -- has been rejected by most Taiwan consumers as "too slow."

  He said that Far EasTone's base of wireless Internet subscribers will only increase after it launches its new GPRS, or General Packet Radio System later this year.

  Far EasTone's O'Konek indicated his company's GPRS system has been hindered only by a lack of GPRS-enabled mobile phones available for consumers. He expects the service to begin running "late in the third quarter."
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