Subscribers to Chunghwa Telecom’s digital line or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services stand to benefit after the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved the telecommunications carrier’s plan to lower its monthly fee for electrical circuit use.
NCC spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said a formula stipulated by the commission showed that the monthly circuit use charge and its wholesale price would be cut by more than 3.2449 percent.
Yu said the commission estimated that 1.79 million asymmetrical digital subscribers line service (ADSL) subscribers and 2.68 million FTTH service users would benefit from the reduced charges. Altogether, the users would be charged approximately NT$192 million (US$6.42 million) and NT$753 million less each year respectively.
Among ADSL service customers, subscribers to the 8M/640k service would see their monthly fees drop by 4.95 percent, or NT$19, the highest of all ADSL subscribers.
Users of the 100M/20M FTTH service would see their monthly charge decrease by 15.86 percent, or NT$111, the highest reduction among FTTH subscribers.
The new monthly circuit charge is to become effective on Monday, the commission said.
Separately, a pediatrician at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Greater Tainan yesterday said that the Internet and other forms of media are replacing parents as the main sources of health information for adolescents.
Citing his own research, Tsai Meng-che (蔡孟哲) said that teenagers are reluctant to use the facilities offered by the national healthcare system to get information about health-related issues ranging from accidental injuries, to alcohol and drug abuse, mental problems and sexually transmitted diseases.
His study, which surveyed 5,018 junior and senior-high school students in the Greater Tainan area from 2010 to 2011, showed that the first source of knowledge for health issues for junior-high school students was their parents, followed by teachers, the media, Web sites and classmates.
However, for the senior-high school students surveyed, the Internet and other media overtook parents as the principal source for health information.
Additional reporting by CNA
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