Taiwan's "digital opportunity" ranks 10th among 180 economies around the world and fourth in Asia, according to a report released on Wednesday by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Taiwan's ranks behind South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Iceland, Hong Kong, Sweden, the UK, Norway and the Netherlands, the 2006 World Information Society Report said.
The ranking is based on the Digital Opportunity Index that evaluates the extent of the "digital divide" -- the divide between those that can and cannot access information technologies -- as well as the IT infrastructure and utilization of the target economies.
While Taiwan's ratings in terms of opportunity and infrastructure are similar to those of South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, its rating on utilization lags far behind South Korea, the report indicated.
The report noted that South Korea and Japan have maintained their lead in digital opportunity because both countries have been actively developing their broadband Internet and 3G mobile services.
Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) ranks fourth on a list of 15 international telecommunication companies charging the cheapest fees in the world for broadband Internet access.
The report said that Chunghwa Telecom charges US$22.67 per month for its 12,288kbit/s Internet service, with the fees per 100kbit averaging US$0.18 (kbit/s is an information transfer rate of 1,000 bits per second).
The telecommunications company with the cheapest broadband Internet fees are Japan's Yahoo BB, which charges US$31.19 per month for its 51,200kbit/s Internet service, with the fees per 100kbit averaging US$0.07, the report said.
The second cheapest is South Korea's Hanaro, which charges US$0.08 per 100kbit, followed by the Netherlands' Internet Access, which charges US$0.14 per 100kbit.
The report said the costs of information communication technology clearly declined between 2003 and 2005, with the costs of mobile phone services falling 23 percent, Internet services 25 percent and broadband Internet services 40 percent.
In Taiwan, subscribers to 3G mobile phone technology, mobile Internet and mobile phone services total 22.8 million, which is the 16th highest in the world.
While China tops the list with 334.8 million subscribers, second place goes to the US with 181.1 million subscribers, according to the report.
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