Between 2012 and 2015, the government will invest NT$3.1 billion (US$107 million) to strengthen the information technology infrastructure of rural areas, the Ministry of Education said Jan. 13.
The MOE made the announcement after the Cabinet agreed to an MOE proposal to upgrade bandwidth at digital opportunity centers in remote townships from 2 megabytes to 10 megabytes.
Currently, 173 DOCs are established in rural areas to teach local residents how to access the Internet, according to the MOE.
Under the proposal, foreign spouses, the elderly, the disabled and women will be trained on how to use the Internet.
“Our goal is to increase the Internet access rate of all rural residents from 56.7 percent in 2010 to 73 percent in 2015,” the MOE said.
More specifically, it added, it will attempt to increase the Internet access rate of women in rural areas from 69.2 percent to 77 percent, and of aboriginals from 63.5 percent to 80 percent.
In addition, the government will provide assistance and counseling on e-commerce to 10,000 small businesses, the MOE said.
The proposal is the third phase of a project first unveiled by the government in 2005, aiming to bridge the digital divide between the nation’s rural and urban areas.
The first phase, which lasted from 2005 to 2007, provided financial assistance to rural elementary and junior high schools in obtaining computers, while the second phase, which began in 2008 and will last until the end of 2011, is focused on establishing more DOCs.
