Lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee accused the nation’s largest telecoms operator of dragging its feet in executing a plan to gradually phase out long-distance phone services and turn the nation into one fixed-line service area.
The committee passed a resolution in January asking Chunghwa Telecom to turn the outlying island of Matsu and Taipei into a single service area starting on April 1, as well as integrating the outlying islands of Kinmen, Penghu and Wuciou with the service areas in Greater Kaohsiung, Greater Tainan and Greater Taichung respectively.
ONE SERVICE AREA
It asked Chunghwa to turn the nation into one fixed-line service area and end long-distance calls within the country by the end of the year.
Chunghwa Telecom chairman Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) was scheduled to brief lawmakers yesterday on the company’s plan to support government disaster-relief efforts, but he was mostly grilled by legislators about the firm’s slow progress in carrying out plans to phase out long-distance phone services.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Jung-chung (郭榮宗) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said that as Taiwan covers a small geographical area, there was no need to charge domestic long-distance fees.
While the US is 268 times larger than Taiwan, Taiwan charges between NT$1.50 and NT$2.10 per minute for long-distance calls, while US operators only charge NT$3.40, Kuo said.
Lo said that Chunghwa made NT$222.4 billion (US$7.56 billion) in revenue and NT$47.6 billion in net profit last year. While the company was privatized in 2005, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications still holds a 35 percent stake in it
“You are supposed to safeguard the interests of consumers, not make money for foreign and corporate investors,” she said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said he would ask Chunghwa to quickly submit a new rate proposal before the end of the year when the nation is slated to become one large service area.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS