Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's largest telecom service provider, said yesterday it would soon announce a special rate package for hearing-disabled users, after a local consumer rights watchdog called on telecom operators to lower short message service (SMS) rates for these customers.
According to a recent survey by the Consumers' Foundation (
To safeguard these consumers' rights, the foundation urged local mobile service providers to lower their SMS charges, which range between NT$1 and NT$1.3 per message, or to come up with tariff packages tailored to this group of users.
"We will come up with new rates soon to cater to the needs of hearing-disabled subscribers," Chen Chang-rong (
That would make the state-run company the world's first telecom operator to offer special packages for hearing-disabled subscribers.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (
In the interim, Far EasTone suggested its hearing-disabled subscribers use
pre-paid cards exclusively designed for SMS transmission at NT$1 per message
within the Far EasTone network. Users of these cards do not need to pay the
additional airtime charges that apply to other packages require.
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