The highest cellular base station in East Asia is to begin operating on Yushan (玉山) today after the government spent seven years planning and building it, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
Central Region Regulatory Department Director Huang Chung-chi (黃琮祺) said that the cell tower is 3,858m above sea level, near the mountain’s north peak.
As far as the department knows, it is the highest in East Asia, he said.
The tower is in a remote area that is difficult to access, he said, adding that it is powered by solar energy, as it would have cost too much to transport gas or diesel there.
The tower was necessary because Yushan, which is 3,952m tall, draws approximately 50,000 to 60,000 mountaineers each year.
It was inevitable that some mountain climbers would be injured and the poor communication service was often the reason they were not able to receive timely medical assistance, he said.
The cell tower’s construction was a complicated project because it involved coordinating between five government agencies and five telecoms, he added.
“When we started planning the project in 2012, none of the five telecoms dared calculate the construction cost of building such a facility, because they knew the sum would be extremely high,” he said. “They listed a bunch of problems, and we helped resolve all of them by communicating with the responsible government agencies,” he said.
The telecoms then budgeted the fund to build the cell tower after the problems were solved, he said.
The tower’s construction was challenging for the contractor, as there was no power or water supply, Huang said, adding that the contractor was only secured after holding six or seven public tender sessions.
As Yushan is closed to visitors when there are typhoons or other natural disasters, the commission did not finish its final inspection of the tower until June, Huang said.
The station cost about NT$43.74 million (US$1.4 million at the current exchange rate) to build, he said.
The NCC is to hold a ceremony today to mark the launch of the cell station, which is to be attended by Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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