TAIPEI, Tawain–Taiwan was touted as being on the forefront of WiMAX adoption, with Japan, Malaysia and to some extent South Korea not far behind, according to executives at WiMAX Forum Congress Asia 2010.
Data package options between carriers are pretty cheap too – NT400-500, or about $13-$16 per month for a two-year contract with a free USB dongle.
Customers can also get daily, weekly and monthly passes with a company that doesn’t require you to commit, but which costs a bit more.
One company we spoke to claims WiMAX is actually cheaper than DSL, and great for companies in developing areas – as opposed to inner city – where getting a physical phone line is difficult.
Although, in Taiwan’s case, many companies high-tech enough to need it will buy space in the ever-developing Science and Industrial Parks, which has all the standard infrastructure.
Many hardware companies we spoke to seemed strangely unable to commit to a particular high-potential market, but tended to agree that any developed country with large spaces – Australia and central America, or fast-developing countries like South America – are a perfect opportunity for WiMAX technology.
As a roaming reporter here in Taiwan, I thought it would be ideal to buy a WiMAX package and then be able to visit cities all over Taiwan. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In its infinite wisdom the government has cut the country in two – north and south – and no WiMAX package can roam between the two areas — somewhat of a serious oversight, some might say.
We were even told that the only way around the issue would be to wait for one northern telecoms company to buy a southern one, which admittedly is somewhat outside customers’ control.
Oh well, at least my (3.5G) HSDPA works everywhere, I suppose.
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Matt Black is a freelance contributor to RCR Unplugged, residing in Taipei, Taiwan.
