The nation’s five telecoms would waive part or all of last month’s mobile phone service fees for registered residents of and visitors to Lienchiang County after communication was disrupted by damage to two undersea cables connecting the outlying county to Taiwan proper, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
Telecom services in the county are provided by two marine cables: the Taima No. 2 cable connecting Dongyin Island (東引島) to New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), and the Taima No. 3 cable connecting Nangan Island (南竿島) to Taoyuan.
The cables were damaged by Chinese boats on Feb. 2 and 8 respectively, leaving residents with slow Internet connections and unstable phone service.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
NCC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the commission is aiming to resolve the matter from three aspects: repairing the cables, expanding the bandwidth of a microwave system connecting Taiwan proper and the county, and offering a compensation package for all parties affected by the incident.
“All five telecoms have agreed to completely waive last month’s service fees for their mobile phone service subscribers in Matsu, including those who have their billing addresses or registered home addresses in the outlying islands,” Wong said.
Monthly fees for those who traveled to Matsu last month would be reduced based on the duration of their stay there, Wong said.
For example, if a person spent five days in Matsu last month, 5/28 of the monthly fee would be deducted, Wong said.
Chunghwa Telecom would waive monthly fees for subscribers to its Hinet Internet service, as well as its multimedia-on-demand service for last month and this month, Wong said.
Whether the monthly fees for next month would be waived as well depends on the progress made in repairing the cables and expanding the bandwidth of the microwave system, he said.
Chunghwa Telecom last month said that it had booked a cable maintenance ship to start the repairs on April 20, but Wong said that the telecom has been contacting other ships to see if repairs could start earlier.
Meanwhile, the bandwidth of the microwave system is expected to be increased to 3.8 gigabits per second (Gbps) by the middle of this month and 8.148Gbps by the end of this year, Wong said, adding that the latter would achieve connection speeds close to those provided by cables.
Expanding the capacity of the microwave system is not an easy task, he said.
“Engineers must first install a receptor, with one end at Bamboo Lake (竹子湖) in Yangmingshan (陽明山) and the other on Dongyin Island,” he said.
“The antenna in Dongyin has a diameter of 4.5m and weighs 950kg. The construction crane that lifts the antenna weighs 25 tonnes and needs to be transported from Taiwan to Dongyin, and the construction process could be disrupted by bad weather,” he added.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS