Social Inclusion

Bridging the Digital Divide

Issue Date:2023/06/30

Bridging the Digital Divide

Upholding to the attributes of ICT industry, Chunghwa Telecom commits its professional core competencies to “bridging the digital divide.” Leveraging the “ICT power,” it cares for the underprivileged groups, goes into communities in the rural areas and indigenous tribes, and establishes “Good Digital Neighbors.” In addition to the installation of digital equipment and provision of broadband resources, it further introduces social resources and corporate volunteering services to the living, learning, and industrial facets of communities. Replicate Taiwan’s successful “Smart solutions” of mobile communications to Southeast Asian countries, and help them bridge digital divide. Furthermore, we assist Tuvalu and Palau to improve and upgrade their mobile networks, both countries people enjoy high-quality of mobile networks.

Key Results of “Bridging the Digital Divide”
Project Results in 2022
CHTF “Good Digital Neighbor”
  • 89 Good Digital Neighbors nationwide for digital education courses
Preferential Subsidies for the Underprivileged
  • 84,220 individuals (households) taken cared with subsidies amounted NT$147,484,000
Equipment Support to Major Events
  • Broadband circuits, Ads on MOD platform; vehicle-mounted base stations; pushed SMS messages; Wi-Fi APs; temporary data circuits
  • Universal telecom service 12 Mbps broadband service coverage > 91.59%
Replicate Taiwan’s successful “Smart solutions” of mobile communications to overseas.
  • 7 smart solutions including digital government, smart city, smart manufacturing, smart medical care, smart agriculture, smart transportation, and smart building.
  • Assist in upgrading mobile networks for 2 countries, the Tuvalu and Palau.

Strategies and Results of Digital Inclusion at Chunghwa Telecom
Strategy Project Results of the Year
Bridge the Digital Divide
Chunghwa Telecom Foundation “Good Digital Neighbor”
  • 89 sites of Digital Good Neighbor across the country
An annual investment of NT$510 million in universal telecom services
  • Telephone services for approximately 260,000 households in 87 "remote areas" and 9 "areas considered as remote areas"
  • Data communication service for approximately 140,000 households
  • Data access services for more than 600 high schools, elementary schools, and public libraries
  • Approximately over 30,000 public telephones installed across 22 counties/cities
Preferential subsidies for the disadvantaged groups
  • Care for 84,220 individuals (households) with subsidies amounting to NT$147,484 thousand
Equipment supports for major events
  • Broadband circuit, MOD platform promotion, mobile base station vehicles, SMS push message service, Wi-Fi AP, and temporary data circuit
  • The coverage rate of the 12Mbps broadband universal telecom services >91.59%
Create Digital Opportunities
Chunghwa Telecom Foundation “Click Taiwan” Program
  • The service programs promoted in a remote manner in response to COVID-19 for the 13th Click Taiwan Program, bridging the gap between the urban and rural areas with the online-merge-offline (OMO) model combined, as young volunteers drove common good in both urban and rural areas
The CHT Digital Innovative Application Series
  • The CHT Digital Innovative Application Series, organized for 15 consecutive years to promote innovative digital development in Taiwan
Education/Network Tutoring
  • iPhone usage training courses for the visually impaired held regularly to help the visually impaired individuals to learn to use smartphones and connect to the digital lifestyle
Assistance in application development / employment
  • Up to 3.35 million views of App for the Visually Impaired since 2013
  • EYE Social Innovative Call Center established, where the visually impaired can work as customer service personnel and earn wages on their own
Preferential Subsidies for the Underprivileged Groups

Chunghwa Telecom has been offering telecom service discounts to the underprivileged groups for them to access the basic right to communication.

Preferential Plan Preferential Offering Preferential Amount (NT$ thousand) Beneficiaries (Individuals)
Caring Series Rate Plan (Mobile)
  • For the visually impaired, hearing impaired, and speech impaired: Free credits worth the same as the monthly rate plan available
  • For the hearing impaired and the speech impaired: 300 SMS intra-network and 100 SMS extra-network for free, and the intra-network videotelephony rate at the same rate as that of the voice service for 3G customers
    135 83
    Broadband Preferential Plan for Low-income Households
    • A 50% off for HiNet FTTx 16M/3M, 35M/6M, 60M/20M, and 100M/40M monthly plan, and for ADSL 2M/64K monthly plan
    36,693 7,428
    4G Mobile Data Plan for the Disabled
    • A NT$100 discount for the 4G 399/436/499 plans, NT$200 discounts for the 599 plan or above, and free CHT Wi-Fi service during the contract term
    65,362 43,005
    Heartwarming Plan
    • Exclusive discounts for cellphone purchase and SIM-only plans, along with a NT$100-200 discount for the monthly plans (subject to the plan selected).
    • Free CHT Wi-Fi service, free extra data or unlimited data (subject to the plan selected), add-ons, and extra talk time, etc.
    25,771 20,121
    Broadband Preferential Plan for the Disabled
    • A 5% off for HiNet FTTx 16M/3M, 35M/6M, 60M/20M, and 100M/40M monthly plan; a 30% off for HiNet non-fixed monthly plan
    • A 15% off for ADSL 5M /384K monthly rate; a NT$149 discount for the non-fixed Internet plan
    18,443 9,935
    MOD Caring Plan and the Low-income Household Plan
    • Platform charges: A 50% off discount (NT$45/month) from the date of work completion date
    • A 30% off discount for subscription to relevant annual plans
    Caring Plan 644.1
    Low-income Household 332
    total 976.1
    Caring Plan 2,381 households
    Low-income Household 1,163 households
    total 3,544 households
    Healthy Net Preferential Plan
    • Free of charge for the low-income households in the first year for HiNet Porn Gatekeeper to protect children from harmful websites such as pornography, violence, suicide, weapons, gambling, and drugs
    103.9 104
    Welfare Public Telephone
    • Public telephones installed at 110 cm high from the floor in public areas for the convenience of the disabled
    • A bump on the key “5” for all the public phone keypads for the ease of the visually impaired; the volume boost button for +3db to +6db available to individuals with hearing aids
    • A friendly dented design around the IC card of public telephone for the convenience of the visually impaired
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    Message Relay Service for the Hearing and Speech Impaired
    • The hearing-/speech-impaired individuals may fax the message content to be sent to the recipient to the hearing-/speech-impaired service hotline at 0800-080885 for the service to orally relay the message to the recipient, and vice versa. The service hours are 08:00~21:00 every day.
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