The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday pledged to use the Cable Radio and Television Development Fund to help rebuild cable television connectivity for residents in four boroughs of Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源), after they were identified as the only people in Taiwan who do not have access to cable television services.
Residents of Fusing (復興), Lavulan (拉芙蘭), Meishan (梅山) and Baoshan (寶山) boroughs, a majority of whom are indigenous, lost cable television connectivity after public infrastructure in the area were destroyed by torrential rains brought by Typhoon Marakot in 2009.
There are 496 households in this area, NCC data showed.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The residents’ plight came under scrutiny in the Kaohsiung City Council yesterday morning, when Kaohsiung City Councilor Taki Ludun Anu asked the city government to address issues facing the residents.
Residents in the district experienced blackouts six times within just two months after the Southern Cross-Island Highway was reopened for traffic in May last year, Anu said, adding that it took two to three hours to resume power supply in each case.
The power supply has been frequently disrupted, as the power lines were often damaged by monkeys, squirrels and other animals, he said, adding that residents could not use their mobile phones during outages.
Aside from a scarcity of cellular base stations in mountainous areas, no cable television services are available in the four boroughs, Anu said.
Kaohsiung City Government Information Bureau head Hsiang Pin-ho (項賓和) said that cable systems cannot be rebuilt in the boroughs at the moment, due to difficulties and the high cost of laying cables, but he promised to communicate with the NCC on the matter.
NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) told a news conference in Taipei that the boroughs are within the service area of Kangshan-based Nan-Kuo CATV Co.
“Typhoon Morakot damaged some of the roads and broke some cables. Cables must be laid and attached to road gutters, but road conditions in the boroughs have yet to become stable, making it impossible to resume cable services,” Wong said.
Wong said that he has communicated with Nan-Kuo’s general manager, who promised to resume cable services in the boroughs once it is ascertained that cables can be permanently attached to road gutters.
“We would use the Cable Radio and Television Development Fund to cover 50 percent of the construction costs that Nan-Kuo has to bear,” Wong said.
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