National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) yesterday said that the commission would release its ranking of telecommunications carriers according to the number of consumer complaints in the first quarter of the year.
Shyr made the announcement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, held to review a proposed amendment to the Telecommunications Act (電信法) that would ban telecom carriers from building service station bases on the site of all schools up to the senior-high school level.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-cheng (盧嘉辰) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the commission had received 1,688 complaints involving disputes between telecoms carriers and consumers in the period between January and March this year, which accounted for more than 50 percent of the total last year.
Lee said the commission should be more active in resolving the disputes, rather than just forwarding the complaints to the relevant carrier. The public has a right to know which carrier received the largest number of complaints, he said, adding that this would motivate the carriers to improve.
Lee added that the regulations on seeking compensation from telecom carriers were too strict. Currently, consumers can only be compensated if they experience a disconnection in mobile communication service for more than two hours or for more than 12 hours for fixed network services. He said that users’ monthly service fee should be waived if their carrier fails to resume normal service within two hours.
The committee passed a resolution asking the commission to study the feasibility of demanding that land or property owned by government agencies and state-run corporations be made available for base stations. The resolution also urged the commission to monitor changes in electromagnetic waves near the base stations every season without giving notice to the carriers.
KMT Legislator Luo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) and DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that nearly all government agencies had turned down requests to have a station installed on their premises because it would upset the residents in their neighborhoods. The two legislators said that the public’s aversion to the stations is proof that the commission has failed to assure people about the safety of living near the stations.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
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