Experiment Aims to Shape Shanghai into a Cyber City

If you wake up one day in Shanghai and find your alarm telling you the weather forecast and your refrigerator making your food, don't be shocked.

Thanks to the Internet penetrating homes, people can expect to live in a so-called 'intelligent' home in the future with every electronic device hooked up to the Net, making communication, business and every aspect of daily life interactive.

For some residents in Shanghai, this revolutionary experiment will take a rudimentary step very soon.

By the end of this year, about 45,000 households in the city will become the first interactive services homes in China.

Via a cable TV line, they can surf the Internet, order video programmes dubbed VOD (Video On Demand), arrange stock deals and even enjoy food by home delivery.

The aim is to shape Shanghai into the first cyber city in China within the next five years, and one of the most wired cities in the world.

By the end of last year, a broadband network had been set up with a transmission frequency of up to 100 megabytes linking Shanghai to the Internet. And cable TV is already available in 97 per cent of the downtown area.

"We expect about 1.1 million households by the end of this year will be linked into the broadband network and they can attain interactive services next year," said Danny Hu, marketing director of Shanghai Maya Online Co Ltd, the sole authorized ICP -Internet contents provider -for the city's VOD service.

Many locals have already decided to take the plunge.

"I love the idea. Just think about it, I can enjoy cable TV programmes, surf the Net and get VOD. I can even play on-line games with my parents. Isn't it great?" said Shi Chong, a 18-year-old student at Tongji University.

Liang Yun, a local telecom reporter, was trying to decide whether or not to buy a computer for Net access due to the additional cost of the modem and other connection fees. She has now decided to wait for the service from cable TV to cut costs - and thinks it will have a massive impact on her everyday routine.





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