Taiwan Star must continue to maintain its base stations and ensure that consumers’ rights are protected, even though it is soon to be merged with Taiwan Mobile, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
Taiwan Star’s subscribers in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung did not have access to telecom services for several hours on Tuesday afternoon due to a power outage in the company’s telecommunications room in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
NCC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) confirmed that the commission had received 106 complaints from Taiwan Star subscribers as of yesterday afternoon.
“The company’s telecom services were unavailable because of a disruption in the power supply from Taiwan Power Co in the area,” Wong said. “The power generator in the telecommunications room was activated immediately after the power supply stopped at 11:30am, which helped sustain operations in the telecommunications room for two more hours.”
The commission received the emergency report from Taiwan Star at about 1:49pm, which met with the relevant regulations, he said.
Even after Taipower resumed the supply of power, electricity in the telecommunications room remained unstable, which eventually burned out the switchboard, Wong said, adding that telecom services were not restored quickly, as the base stations remained powerless.
The base stations were not reactivated until 3:40pm, with some subscribers not getting services back again until 5pm to 6pm, Wong said.
Based on the telecom’s standard contract with subscribers, a subscriber can get a 5 percent discount on monthly fees if their telecom service is suspended for two to four hours. An 8 percent discount applies if the service is suspended for four to eight hours.
The company told the commission that it would compensate subscribers based on the terms of the standard contract, Wong said, adding that its control center should have information on how different subscribers were affected by the disruption of services.
“We have reminded the telecom that it has a social responsibility and must ensure that consumers’ interests are protected,” he said.
As Taiwan Mobile has applied to merge with Taiwan Star, but the plan has yet to be approved by the commission, Taiwan Star must continue to fulfill its contract with subscribers, Wong said.
“The company cannot neglect the maintenance of base stations or begin removing some of them because it will soon merge with Taiwan Mobile,” he said. “We have noticed that the company has begun to advertise the merger to consumers, even though it has yet to be approved. We will study if that is legal.”
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
RSS