Chairperson of NCC, Dr. Peng, Bonnie attended the Global Forum 2009 and delivered a speech entitled, “Reducing the Digital Divide - a Taiwan Experience” in which she described that with the implementation of “Intelligent Taiwan” in “i-Taiwan 12 Projects” of President Ma, and the NCC promotion of the “Broadband for Villages” and “Broadband for Tribes” policies, the digital divide between urban and rural areas has been significantly reduced.
In her speech, Dr. Peng emphasized that primary factors of “Intelligent Taiwan” of “i-Taiwan 12 Projects” included love and care for the underprivileged minorities and the creation of fair digital opportunities. Technological development has advanced at a tremendous pace, although the competition for platforms of cross media is fierce, enterprises have expanded their markets to create more benefits in society. However, residents in remote areas have not been able to enjoy fair and reasonable right of access to communications media due to economical unfeasibility. As a result, it affected the future development of the country, which was an issue that regulatory authorities should not ignore.
She further demonstrated that in facing the trend of digital convergence, the policy of our government should focus both on benefits of industries and rights of people. In addition to the innovation of current rules and regulations with convergence of new perspectives, NCC should also coordinate with private communications sectors to actively promote the universal services of “Broadband for Villages” and “Broadband for Tribes” to reduce the urban-rural divide.
In 2007 for example, NCC appointed enterprises to construct broadband networks in 46 remote villages with an expense of USD2.76 million invested to build 145.816 kilometers of fiber-optic cables which had Internet speed of over 2Mbps; broadband coverage for the villages reached 100%. In 2008, NCC designated an additional 50 tribes and neighborhoods to be equipped with broadband services with USD2.22 million invested to establish 122.131 kilometers of fiber-optic cables which had Internet speed of over 2Mbps. This year, NCC continues to promote the universal service for broadband and plans to invest USD2.35 million in 51 tribes and neighborhoods to install 130.015 kilometers of fiber-optic cables. Moreover, in regards to the destruction of fiber-optic cables in southern Taiwan caused by Typhoon Morakot, NCC has requested enterprises to repair and reconstruct the cables as soon as possible to ensure that the residents in the remote areas can enjoy the broadband data telecommunications service comparable to that provided to those in urban areas.
Global Forum 2009, co-organized by Sophia Antipolos Foundation in France and Items International Co., Ltd., was an annual international conference on information and communications. Representatives of information and communications organizations and related industries from the world were invited to attend. The conference mainly explored the influence of information and communications technology on human society, and also included the discussions on the development trend of technology and related policies.
Dr. Peng also mentioned that Taiwan possesses the advantage of high-tech industry, and NCC hopes to bring out more universal service for broadband with intertwining networks to strike a balance on the urban-rural divide and regional development, and to uplift the entire competitiveness of Taiwan. Furthermore, Dr. Peng indicated that some residents in remote areas were underprivileged, so after the broadband service is available, how to make the Internet access charge meet their expectations is also a challenge for NCC.
In addition to NCC, which actively coordinates with enterprises to install broadband networks, Ministry of Education has also set up Digital Opportunity Center (DOC) in 168 remote areas and infused resources of private sectors. Besides, it has provided services to assist students and residents to learn information application on-line and connected community networks. Meanwhile, Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan also actively promotes the project of “From Satellite Directly to Dish” to install satellite reception equipment in aboriginal households in remote areas to improve connection of terrestrial TV with Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS). It helps enhance people’s right of access to media and shorten the digital divide between urban and rural areas.
