Under the promotion of SIP/ENUM, Mobile IP,IPv6, and other related technologies, the convergenceof global Internet and telecommunications has becomecommon practice. In light of this, TWNIC and IPv6Forum Taiwan held a successive three-day seminar onJuly 22nd ~ 24th , namely “TWNIC 2003 AnnualSeminar: The Trend of Internet and Te l e c o mConvergence”. The Seminar invited vital people ofdomestic Internet and telecommunications industries tomeet together. There were high-level viewpointsexchanged in the venue, including the progress ofpreparation of the NCC (the National CommunicationsCommission), a trend to loosen the grant of Type I andType II telecommunications licenses in Ta i w a n ,accelerating Taiwan broadband Internet usage anddevelopment prospects of the Internet andtelecommunications businesses. Participants were allkeen to discuss developing tendencies of theconvergence of the Internet and telecommunicationsand the way to accommodate it.

By the same token, TWNIC, jointly with Computer& Communications Research Laboratories of IndustrialTechnology Research Institute, Taipei ComputerAssociation (TCA), and majority of Taiwan fixednetwork carriers and ISPs held the SIP/ENUM ForumTaiwan (SEFT) establishment press conference on July23rd. SEFT is now the leading force and platform inTaiwan for developing the technologies of Internett e l e c o m .

In addition to vigorously establishing theinfrastructure of domestic SIP/ENUM trial, TWNIC wasvery honor to invite distinguished experts from Japan inAugust to share their knowledge and experiencesabout telecommunication & information policies

development in Japan. Moreover, TWNIC, cooperatedwith Taipei Computer Association (TCA), organized adelegation which included mostly high-level executivesof domestic VoIP vendors. ISP and fixed networkcarriers, to visit the most successful country inpromoting IP telephony to household – Japan, at theend of September. We successfully built up a closertechnology and business cooperative relationships withJapanese related companies and institutions.

The Internationalized Domain Name (IDN)standard has gone through the discussion of IDNWorking Group formed by IETF (Internet EngineeringTask Force) for more than three years. Along with theInternationalized Domain Name (IDN) standard formallyannounced in March this year, TWNIC especiallyadheres to the standard to develop the second-generation “IDN.tw” Chinese (BIG5) domain nameregistration experimental system. The system hasprovided domestic Internet users from June 2nd toproceed to a standard experimental registrationapplication. This experimental trial is closed on August31st. It is expected to provide the new standardChinese domain name registration service in Novemberthis year, which will be part of annual “InfoMonth” eventin Taiwan.

TWNIC published its annual “Taiwan broadbandInternet survey” in July this year. According to thiss u r v e y, up to the second quarter in 2003, the growth ofthe Internet population in Taiwan has reached 11 . 7 5million people, or 57.23% of total population. Alsoaccording to ECRC-FIND of III, broadband Internet hasreached 2.45 million households, which is an increaseof 140 thousand compared to the first quarter, a 6%growth and implies vast business opportunities.

President, TWNIC Executive Director, TWNIC

TWNIC 2003 Annual Seminar: The Trend of Internet

and Telecom Convergence was successfully held on

July 22nd to 24th. Speakers from the major network

carriers, ISPs and mobile communications operators

were invited to present their cases and valuable

experiences. The objective of this seminar was to

increase public awareness and better understanding of

this emerging trend.

There were two main topics at this seminar. The first

one focused on how fixed network carriers and ISP

providers react to the convergence of

telecommunications and the Internet. The panel is

chaired by Dr. Gao KaiSheng - Deputy Director General

of the DGT (Taiwan telecommunications bureau), and

included Mr. Cheng JiaJun – General Manager of Digital

United Telecommunications (Seednet, the second largest

ISP in Taiwan), Mr Wei TaiRui, Director of ChungHua

Telecom and Jimmy Chen – Deputy GM of EB Telco. As

an ISP practitioner, Mr

Cheng JiaJun spoke

about how ISPs has

been coping with the

challenges brought

about by the

convergence of

t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

and the Internet. As a

provider of fixed networks and ISP services, Mr We i

TaiRui gave his perspective on driving operational and

management changes internally to take advantage of

business opportunities provided by such convergence.

The other main topic focused on the response of

wireless and mobile operators to the increasing

convergence of telecommunications and the Internet. Mr

Rao ChongHua – Vice Chairman of Far Eastone

Telecommunications, a leading mobile communication

carriers in Taiwan, spoke about establishing a common

platform that enables wireless service providers to

provide value added services. Mr Tsai SiXun, Manager

of Cisco, a provider of wireless systems infrastructure,

spoke about the significance of an eff e c t i v e

infrastructure that ensures delivery of excellent service.

M r. Wang JiXian, Deputy Director of Taiwan Fixed

Networks, emphasized that innovative services and

value chains are key contributors in the strategy

employed by fixed network providers in response to this

convergence trend.

TWNIC Annual Seminar: Communication in a Converged Network

VoIP has been a hot topic in Asia Pacific region,

where Japan is in the leading role in consumer market

and Taiwan takes charge of the manufacturing side. On

September 28 to October 2nd, a group of nearly 34 high-

level executives from Taiwan VoIP Industry formed a

delegation to visit several leading IP Phone service

providers, regulators and manufacturers in Japan.

The group, led by the Chairman of SIP/ENUM Forum

Taiwan (SEFT), Dr. S.S. Tseng, spent their time on

listening and studying companies such as NTT

Communications, OKI Electric Industry Co., etc., and

exchanged ideas with Japan VoIP Development

Consortium (VDC), which is the industrial self-regulated

body under the supervision of the Soumu Ministry of

Japan. The group also observed the VoIP market in

Japan by meeting local dealers, journalists, end-users,

etc.

An initial contact and discussion with Enum Tr i a l

Japan (ETJP) team has also been setup and two

demonstrations were conducted. The group felt that the

result of this visit is very worthwhile and fruitful. Further

cooperation, business-wise or research-wise, is

expected to happen soon.

SIP/ENUM Forum Taiwan is the leading force for

Taiwan SIP/ENUM development. Under SEFT structure,

a commercial-focus project, namely IPOX (IP Phone

Open Exchange), has been also formulated among major

ISPs in the island. The IP Phone service is expected to

happen in Taiwan in early 2004.

SEFT visited Japan for latest trendon IP Telephony

TW3TWNIC | Fall

T a i w a n N e t w o r k I n f o r m a t i o n C e n t e r

Since 1999, the Japanese government undertook the 3rd

revolution on its ICT policy and regulations. Started in 2001,

Japan has taken further steps towards adapting related

regulatory measures, standards and methods. These include

incorporating MPT into MPHPT, amending telecommunications

acts and NTT management methods, establishing a

telecommunications industry competitors’ arbitration

association, ensuring compliance and that quality service is

provided.

Since Taiwan and Japan apply similar regulations and

standards in telecommunications, a better understanding of the

latest developments and trends of Japan’s telecommunications

regulations and standards would enable Taiwan to establish

effective regulatory measures and standards. Therefore

TWNIC invited experts from MPHPT and telecom industry

practitioners from Japan and held “Taiwan-Japan Info

Communication Policy Workshop” in Taipei. on August 7th and

8th. The participants at this forum included guests from Japan

Telecommunications Bureau of Soumu Ministry, Research

Institute of Telecommunications and Economies (RITE),

Mitsubishi Electric Co. and OKI Electric Industry Co. About 150

local participants joined the workshop as well.

During this meeting, participants learned about how type I

and type II operators in Japan are managed, how operators

meet criteria for applying service licenses and the process for

issuance for market entry.

From a business

perspective, the objective

was to understand the

trends and strategies for

VoIP and guide our

domestic practitioners of

the mobile phone technology, fixed networks and 3G towards

the application of advanced technologies, develop effective

strategies and service models.

Working within the framework of the WTO, participants from

both countries actively discussed Japan’s approach of

managing the telecommunications industry, Japan’s

technological advances e.g. VoIP and future trends, and the

development of 3G and WLAN in Japan.

The 4th APNG (Asia Pacific Next Generation) Camp was

held on August 24th – 25th at Pusan, South Korea. 3 members

from TWING (TaiWan Internet Next Generation) Camp, along

with 3 TWNIC staff joined this exciting event. In terms of

country representation and the number of participants,

attendance at this meeting was at an all time high. In addition,

South Korea, Taiwan’s close friend and neighborhood

country, takes an aggressive approach on the development of

IPv6, especially in R & D and the establishment of standards

governing the deployment of IPv6 technology. In July 2003,

members of the Taiwan IPv6 project office attended the “Global

IPv6 Summit” in Seoul, Korea, also visited and studied related

results regarding IPv6 in Korea. The first meeting with

members of the IPv6 Forum Korea was held successfully and

laid down the foundation of

collaborative effort that resulted

in a memorandum signed in

August underlining future

cooperation between the two

countries.

The signing ceremony,

scheduled on August 22nd at the office of the Electronics and

Telecommunications Research Institute in Korea, was officiated

by Dr. Ki-Shik Park – chairman of IPv6 Forum Korea and the

vice-chairman of IPv6 Forum Taiwan and vice-principal of the

Research Center for Telecommunications – Dr. Wang Fu Ching.

Key terms of the collaborative agreement include:

· Information exchange for IPv6-related activities.

· Supporting of collaborative IPv6 promotion activities.

· Cooperative planning of the strategy for IPv6 promotion.

· Supporting of R&D collaboration between Korea and

Taiwan

· Cooperative collaboration with the EU and the US and

other counties and regions

· Joint meeting and joint workshop if necessary

Also on August 23rd, Japan’s IPv6 Promotion Council ,

taking advantage of the overwhelming success of the first Asia

Pacific Global IPv6 Summit held in February 2003, called upon

members of the IPv6 community in Asia Pacific congregate in

Seoul to discuss future plans for IPv6 in the Asia Pacific.

One important outcome of this meeting was the formation of

the AP IPv6 Task Force. During the period 2001 – 2002, the

EU and North America had established an IPv6 Task Force to

facilitate cross-nation collaboration. To meet the specific needs

of the Asia Pacific region, Dr. Wang Fu Ching – vice-chairman

of IPv6 Forum Taiwan and Taiwan’s representative at the

meeting, called for the establishment of an AP IPv6 Task Force.

This recommendation was met with much enthusiasm. The first

formal meeting of the AP IPv6 Task Force will be conducted at

the IPv6 summit scheduled to be held in Malaysia in October.

At this meeting, the rules of engagement, organization

structure, secretarial office and other related matters will be

discussed. A formal announcement of this task force will be

made at the second Asia Pacific Global IPv6 Summit scheduled

for February 2004.

Outstanding Performance ofTaiwan’s Internet Next Generation

Taiwan – Korea signing MoU on IPv6Collaboration / Formation of AsiaPacific IPv6 Task Force

Info Communication PolicyWorkshop in Taipei

TW5TWNIC | Fall

it was a recorded number of topics of depth and breadth for

discussion.

The Camp activities were segregated into Culture and

Technology tracks. In the Culture track, South Korea started

out with the “Prosumer – Producer + Consumer” concept,

highlighting the behavior of the new generation of internet users

in the P2P. Mr. Wu MingWei of

National Taiwan University followed

up with an analysis of the

development of P2P. Ms. Rachel

Pang of National Chengchi

University presented a vivid

description of the internet ‘addicts’

on the subject of the “Online Fan Community”. Mr. Cheng

JiaLu of London University presented a comprehensive report

on the future development of ICANN. Mr. Ching Chiao of

TWNIC’s International Affairs Department, worked with

representatives from Korea and Japan’s ccTLD and presented

a report on the strategic development of the Internet in the

various countries.

In technology track, the research team from the QingHua

University in China presented a lively report on IPv6. NTT

Communications then did a live demonstration of the IP Phone.

Mr. Anthony Lee, Director of Domain Name Service of TWNIC

presented an update on the development of Internationalized

Domain Name. Apart from the activities described, there were

many ‘working group’ and BoF type discussions, formation of

more working groups with discussion topics ranging from

female rights of Internet, to the latest developments in web

security, and going backward to memorize the history of the

development of the Internet in the Asia Pacific. All these

activities were much appreciated by the participants.

The Asia Pacific Networking Group (APNG), one of the first

Internet organizations in Asia, has spawned many similar

organizations like APNIC and APAN. APNG Camp is a

platform for nurturing leaders on the Internet for Asia region.

The next APNG Camp will be held in Cairns, Australia, on July

2004, which will last 3 to 5 days. China’s Liu Xin will chair the

next camp with Taiwan’s Wu MingWei as vice chair.

TWNIC Introduces ISMS in itsO p e r a t i o n

APTLD Membership Enrollment Plan/ Technical Committee Established

technical knowledge and best practices. The committee also

plans to organize annual technical training sessions to assist

ccTLD registration businesses across Asia Pacific region. The

first training session will be held at the end of November in

Wellington, New Zealand. It is confirmed that Japan, Australia,

Taiwan will send technical experts to facilitate this session.

The Membership Committee formed earlier also reported on

a wide range of activities and recommended appropriate

improvements to these activities, including membership

enrollment, evaluation of suitability of potential members and

sponsoring activities proposed by non-members etc. This

Committee will provide an pamphlet of the APTLD and

distribute it at the ICANN Carthage meeting at the end of

October. Plans are also in progress to conduct membership

enrollment at the next technical training session.

The Pusan meeting also discussed or reported on issues

related to ICANN ccNSO Launching Group. Regional At-Large

Organisation/Structure, Korea’s IDN development status and

update on WSIS.

TWNIC has been devoted to maintain the DNS system and

security of related information environment. In order to reinforce the

information & communication security management continuously,

and to integrate the current management system to assure

c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y, integrity, and usability of the related information

assets of the DNS system, TWNIC is now in the process of

applying BS 7799-2:2002 standard (www.bsi-global.com) , which

such standard is to assist in planning and establishing integrated

Information Security Management System (ISMS), information

security promotion and education training, and establishment of the

Security Operating Center of TWNIC.

The ISMS project follows the National Information &

Communication Security Taskforce of Executive Yuan completing

the classified task of information security in 3,713 information

departments of government agencies, a control task over crucial

information security operation system toward the national security

and social stability in 20 significant information systems thoroughly--

the country is then promoting the related plans of the nation-wide

information & communication security

The DNS system maintained by TWNIC takes the responsible

of scanning service to provide network name and IP address

nation-wide. Since the importance of the DNS system is of the level

of vital information security operation system concerning national

security and social stability, National Information & Communication

Security Taskforce of the Executive Yuan includes TWNIC DNS

system into the related control tasks.

The 2003 APTLD (Asia Pacific

Top Level Domain) Association

held their 3rd quarterly meeting

this year on August 23rd in Pusan,

South Korea. Participants came

from Australia, China, Japan,

Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan

to discuss topics including APTLD membership enrollment and

collaboration opportunities.

At the Pusan meeting, it was decided that a technical

committee should be established to facilitate the exchange of

&

the Chinese domain name can comprehensively apply

the new standard to meet the requisition of international

technical specification.

The new IDN plug-in will also provide end-user with

enhanced keyword function, meaning if one enter “ 中文”

in the address bar of Microsoft IE, the plug-in will

immediately take the user to http:// 中文 . t w, which makes

IDN service easier to use.

Along with the Internationalized Domain Name

(IDN) standard formally announced by ICANN earlier this

y e a r, TWNIC adhered to the standard and developed the

new “IDN.tw” Chinese domain name registration

experimental system. The system had been provided for

Taiwan Internet users to experience and realize Chinese

domain name which apply to global standard. This

experimental trial started from June 2nd and concluded

on August 31st. The official kick-off with real-time

registration will be on November this year.

The Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) standard

have gone through the discussion of IDN Working Group

formed by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) for

more than three years, and eventually the IDNA -

NAMEPREP – PUNYCODE was formally announced by

ICANN in March 2003. TWNIC took a very careful

approach to give birth to the second-generation IDN.tw

based on upgraded browser plug-in and modified

character variance table. Regarding to the specific

Chinese variant character table for IDN registration,

CDNC takes more than one year to develop and

announce this table at http://cdns.twnic.net.tw/cjktable/

in August 2003. Applying this new table will reduce the

potential domain name dispute resulted from the

ambiguity of UNICODE. On the other hand, the trial

system also collects users’ opinions regarding this

experiment.

Accredited IDN.tw registrars will proceed with

developing new IDN registration system, and also drafts

convenient and rapid registration procedures to facilitate

users with more user-friendly application interface.

Before the new standard Chinese domain name formally

takes place, all registrants will receive a notice to carry

out new standard Chinese transformation task, so that

IDN.tw is now Punycode Ready.Service Re-Launched in November

The 11t h meeting of the CDNC

(Chinese Domain Name Consortium)

was held on September 18 –19 Kun

Ming, Yunnan Province, China. The

focus of the meeting was on the

status of Chinese character variance

table, future development and implementation, the framework for

governing Chinese domain name registration and issues on ENUM /

I P v 6 .

Key participants of the CDNC meeting were members of TWNIC,

CNNIC, HKNIC and MONIC. This time the CDNC also welcomed

representatives from SGNIC (Singapore). In total, 18 people attended

this meeting.

In the meeting, representatives from CNNIC and TWNIC presented

their regular updates on the character variance table. They also

discussed the amendments made to the CDN Admin Guideline.

Another topic of discussion was a technical plan to respond to JET’s

IDN Admin Guideline. In regards to the framework governing CDN

registration and resolution, the group evaluated the options available

that would meet users’ expectations of the quality and type of service

p r o v i d e d .

11th CDNC Meeting in Kun Ming

中文.t w

TWNIC Accredited Registrars

TW9TWNIC | Fall

/

For the purpose of promoting SIP/ENUM, and

deployment of IP Phone services in the general public both

in Home/Residential and Enterprise sectors, IPOX (IP

Phone Open Exchange) Project was formed since July 2003

under the umbrella of Taiwan IPv6 Grand National Project.

The Project is now also the strong arm of SIP/ENUM Forum

Taiwan for its promotional activities. First phase of IPOX

(Jul. 2003 ~ Dec. 2003) was funded and advised by the

Directorate General of Telecommunications, MOTC; Phase

II of the project will continue next year.

The major goal of IPOX Project is:

1. To initiate the merge of Telecomm and Internet Services

through promoting IP Phone services to general public.

This initiative also paves the way of smooth upgrade

from voice communication to multimedia communication.

2 . To include at least 3 major local ISP providing SIP IP

Phone services using 070 as pre-fix before the end of

2003, and the total number of IP Phone subscriber is set

to exceed half million home users in Taiwan by the end

of 2004.

3 . To provide new growth momentum for local Broadband

Internet access market, either in quantity, penetration

rate, speed of connection and QoS.

4 . To bring up IP Phone local market in order to leverage

the already booming VoIP manufacturing industry and

collaboratively improve competitiveness and added

value to the manufacturing industry.

The major action plan of IPOX phase I include:

1 . Forming a multi-ISP consortium, including 1 or 2 fixed

network operators and TANet (Educational Internet),

GSN(Government Services Network) to jointly promote

SIP/Enum IP Phone services. R&D institute and Vo I P

manufactures will participate this consortium as well.

The operation of IPOX consortium will be very similar to

VoIP Development Council in Japan.

2. Three WG will be formed under IPOX consortium. They

are Common Numbering and SIP/H.323 Interworking,

I n t e r o p / Q o S / Testing and Regulation.

3 . Several promotional activities, including VoIP To p i c

booth in related exhibitions, seminars and workshops on

technological proliferation, etc.

So far most of the local ISPs have already make their

commitment to IPOX Consortium, one major ISP will launch

their IPOX Common Numbering compliance IP Phone

services later December. We anticipate this will trigger

competition among ISP and eventually lead to more general

market penetration.

Taiwan IPOX(IP Phone Open Exchange) Project

Figure 1 IPOX Structure

Following up on this complaint, the report noted

that most home users subscribe to the minimum

access speeds recommended by ISP providers.

45.9% of ADSL users subscribe to the standard

o ffering of 512k while 44.9% are not even aware of

the different offerings of access speeds. 20% of

cable modem users subscribe to the standard of f e r i n g

of 512k while as much as 59.4% are not aware of the

d i f ferent offerings of access speeds.

In regards to the issue of cost, more than 60% of

users pay more than $750 Taiwan Dollar every month.

53% of these users feel that charges should be

maintained at below $750 Taiwan Dollar.

Most users (70%) fall in the 16 – 25 age group

within which 75.64% are between the ages of 16 and

20. People aged 56 and above account for only

17.09% of personal users. This highlights an obvious

opportunity to motivate senior cit izens to use the

Internet. Regional analysis highlighted that 42.92% of

total population in northern Taiwan have used

Internet, 35.92% in the central region and 32.11% in

the southern region. The lowest percentage, at

21.98%, was accounted for by users in the eastern

region.

In the study of stickiness, 66.6% accessed the

Internet at least once a day. More than 21.1% stayed

on the Internet from 1 to up to 5 hours every week.

More than half the users (55.99%) accessed the

Internet between 8pm and midnight. The main

functions applied are WWW browsers (82.91%), email

On August 18, the TWNIC published its semi-

annual survey on broadband usage in Taiwan. Up to

the second quarter of 2003, 11.75 mill ion people have

accessed the Internet, or 57.23%. Broadband users

amounted to 9.37 mil l ion, approximately 43% of the

total population. Under the e-Taiwan program, the

init iative “Bringing broadband to 6 mil l ion household”

generated 38.91% of home usage, with 2.51 mil l ion

households. Those who who have not used

broadband to access the Internet, 29.23% have

indicated a wil l ingness to do so within six months,

with 71.32% planning to do so via ADSL. Of those

household accessing the Internet through broadband

connection, ADSL is their preferable choice. About

25% of home users access the Internet via dial-up

with 20.56% incurring dial-up charges and 4.19%

using free dial-ups.

The report showed that the speed of access and

costs are the key factors influencing the increased

use of ISP services. 84% of the home ADSL users

subscribe to services provided by Hinet, 5.52% using

Seednet and less than 10% using other ISPs. Of

those using cable modems, 60.85% subscribe to

services provided by EB Telco Broadband while

18.56% use GigaMedia. In general, approximately

70% of the users are satisfied with the broadband

services provided. One common complaint, however,

is the speed of download.

Broadband in Taiwan: nearly 43%of population using high-speed Internet, 7.98 % use WLAN

TW11TWNIC | Fall

(63.88%), games (24.76%), downloads (15.83%) and

web messaging e.g. MSN, ICQ (10.09%).

This t ime the survey includes. WLAN access

b e h a v i o r, The fact is that only 7.98% of users use

wireless access. Of these, 40% use WLAN access

from home and about 20% incur no charges. The

users that are presently not using WLAN access, 76%

do not see the need for it and only 12% have

indicated a wil l ingness to try WLAN access in the

next 6 months. This highlights the fact that WLAN

access has a long way to go in terns of acceptance

by Taiwanese users, though Taiwan ships out most of

thet WLAN products in the world.

Similar thing happening on mobile Internet

access. Only 5.11% of users are using this method.

Of these, only about 40% use GPRS to access

Internet. 42.22% of the users feel that access speed

for mobile access is too slow. Of those not presently

using mobile access, more than 70% do not see the

need for it and only 8.54% are wil l ing to use it in the

next 6 months.

The timeframe for this study is July 3 to 15, with

a population sample of 5,523 randomly selected from

home telephone subscribers in Taiwan, a 95%

confidence level. A complete report (in Chinese) of

this survey can be downloaded from

w w w. t w n i c . n e t . t w.

Note 1: Internet users are defined as those who have access or

have used the Internet.

Note 2: Population is defined as people above 12 years of age

in Ta i w a n .