Under the former government policy of making phone service universally available, rates for intra-city local calls, the most common type, were kept very low. The going rate of NT $ 1 per five minutes was a de facto subsidy. Long-distance, international, and mobile-phone charges made up the difference.
在以往「普及電話」的政策指示下，消費者使用最頻繁的市內電話費率壓得極低，一元講五分鐘的費率完全是倒貼，靠的就是拉高長途、國際及行動電話的費率來進行「交叉補貼」。