(Hong Kong, October 7, 2002) Diyixian.com Ltd, Greater China’s largest IP private network service provider, today announced the expansion of its cross-straits IP bandwidth and the opening of two operation facilities in the mainland cites of Suzhou and Kunshan in support of the region’s steadily growing and increasingly mature IP private network market.

With its own backbone architecture, strategically located service centres and highly skilled resources, Diyixian has, since August, doubled the transmission bandwidth over its cable infrastructure between Taipei and Hong Kong as well as between Taipei and Shanghai to bring better communications solutions for Taiwan businesses with mainland and HK operations, and to compete in an increasingly competitive market where it has claimed leadership for the past two years.

The expansion is seen as a move to capitalize on the tremendous call and data-transmission volume between Taiwan and Mainland China. According to market sources, more than US$3.7 billion are made in cross-strait communications annually.

With the added bandwidth, round-trip data transmission between Taiwan and Shanghai would take only 30 microseconds, compared to 100 – 150 microseconds for the nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, the company’s operation facilities in Suzhou and Kunshan, both in Mainland China, have been in use since September, preparing way for the market’s increasingly fierce competition. As Taiwan businesses in the mainland are focusing more on capital-intensive and technology-intensive manufacturing, many of them have increasingly moved their manufacturing bases to cities near the Yangtze River delta regions, such as Shanghai, Kunshan, Yangzhou, Xiaoshan, Fenghua and Wujiang, where the industrial focus is on combining products in relevant upper-, medium- and downstream industries. Shanghai is a notable example, as more than 30 percent of Diyixian’s clients have operations there.

Currently, Diyixian has 7 service centres in the mainland: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. The locations were decided based on the presence of Taiwan and Hong Kong business communities.

“With superior MPLS technology, regionwide coverage, and dual infrastructure (Taipei – HK and Taipei – Shanghai) that features industry-best bandwidth linking Taiwan businesses and their branches across the Straits, our IP private network service would fulfill its promise to provide top-notch, seamless value-added Internet solutions in Greater China,” said Lap Man, CEO of Diyixian.

As the cost for providing IP private network services has been lowered due to the lifting of restrictions on submarine cable leasing between Taiwan and mainland China, fixed-line operators and international simple resale (ISR) companies are launching IP private network services targeting Taiwan businesses in the mainland.

Man however said while IP private network is a market full of potential, it’s not actually a “fully edible pie”. He noted: “Signed agreements or contracts cannot warrant good relationships with mainland Chinese companies. What’s far more important is established positioning and customer base. And that creates the competitive edge that you need to outshine the competition.”

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