In Brief: Group sees Taiwan broadband as lagging

Taiwan's Consumer Federation says the country's broadband service is generally lagging behind that of the other major Asian economies.

A report in Friday's China Post said the Consumer Foundation ranked Taiwan behind Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong in terms of broadband costs and connections speeds.

The organization urged Taiwan's government to liberalize the overall broadband market in order to encourage technologies other than ADSL, which is called slower and more expensive than other broadband services.

The CF said Japan had the fastest broadband speeds in the region as well as the cheapest at about $34.25 for 1 megabit per second. Taiwan's cost was $41.43 per Mbps; however, it worked out to 1.4 percent above Japan on a per-capita income basis.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International