The Taipei City Government yesterday said it aimed to have -fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service available at 80 percent of the city’s households by 2015.
The city signed the contract with five companies, led by Tai Tung Communication, that will install 3,000km of fiber optic cables within four years.
Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the contractor was confident it would be able to accomplish the task because it would install the fiber optic cables in sewage pipelines.
Taipei could potentially become the nation’s “most intelligent” city when the project is complete, city officials said.
A total of NT$40 billion (US$1.3 billion) will be invested in the construction and operation of the service over the next 25 years. The construction will be carried out in four stages, with the FTTH service coverage rate rising to 8 percent, 32 percent, 56 percent and 80 percent between this year and 2015.
The contractor must charge consumers a rate that is 10 percent less than that of the Chunghwa Telecom. Aborigines, physically disabled users and low-income households will be eligible for 50 percent discounts.
Residents of Neihu (內湖), Nangang (南港) and Songshan (松山) districts will be the first to enjoy the service by the middle of next year, the city government said.
In related news, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said the government could start issue technology--neutral licenses to operators of radio bands before 2015.
Department of Posts and Telecommunications Director-General Teng Tien-lai (鄧添來) said the license would allow the operators to quickly adjust to the fast changes in telecommunication technology.
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