World's largest VoIP system inaugurated

2006/12/1
The China Post staff

Taipei City Government yesterday officially inaugurated its VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system for public use, which is claimed to be the largest of its kind ever installed by the public sector in the world.
The inauguration ceremony was jointly presided over by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, and top executives of AnDar Technology Inc. and TeleSynergy (now a leading provider of IP-enabled office communications solutions in Taiwan).

At the inauguration ceremony, Ma expressed hopes that the VoIP system of the city government can secure free calls between Taipei citizens and city government staff, as well as zero distance between them.

VoIP is a technology that allows people to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line.

Through the VoIP system, people can immediately give calls to all the schools and units under the jurisdiction of Taipei City Government free of charge.

The system was made available for trial use by civil servants one month ago, saving some NT$200,000 on telephone fees a month, according to city government officials.

Now that the system is open to public use, it is expected that people can save a total of some NT$400,000 on phone call fees per month.

Taking two years to complete, the VoIP system integrates the similar systems for 163 units under the Taipei City Government, Taipei City Council, and 234 schools of various levels. In addition, the city government also offers Internet-page telephone service, allowing people to make inquiries about services by directly linking the Internet page of the city government, without having to dial telephone numbers or pay for the phone calls.

City government officials said after being connected to the Internet page of the city government, people can hit "hot line 1999 for citizens" to have direct talks with city government employees. People can also dial "1999" using traditional telephone lines at home to get similar services.

Meanwhile, on June 29 this year, the VoIP system of the Taipei City Government was officially certified by the JiWire Inc., making Taipei the world's largest WiFi (wireless fidelity) network city.

Source : http://www.chinapost.com.tw/backissue/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=96483&GRP=B