There is global trend toward liberalization in the telecom industry. The National Communications Commission (NCC) has responded by announcing a set of new digital convergence laws expanding Taiwan’s telecom industry.
This legislation is to replace the three laws collectively known as “the three telecommunications laws”: the Telecommunications Act (電信法), the Organizational Act of the Directorate-General of Telecommunications, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Act (交通部電信總局組織條例) — which was abolished on July 4, 2007 — and the Chunghwa Telecom Corporation Act (中華電信股份有限公司條例), which was abolished on Dec. 24 last year.
Although the legislation is a little late, the overall management structure goes beyond the former more conservative model, which is a positive move.
Taiwanese public access to the media has gradually polarized into two main groups: Large-screen TV viewers and small-screen mobile phone users. Cable and wireless TV operators currently offer more than 100 TV channels, but the program quality is incredibly poor. This year, the Golden Bell Award jury commented on the low quality and lack of creativity, entertainment and depth of variety shows. Although some entertainers denied the claims, the jury’s comment certainly reflects audiences’ frustration over such anemic content.
In this round of legislative amendments, the commission’s management of both cable and wireless TV channels is to change direction from the vertical, discrete control model of the past to that of promoting healthy competition, bringing the market mechanism into full play. This should result in viewers being able to enjoy better quality programs.
The convergence between telecom networks and cable and wireless broadcasting networks has trapped the government into poor governance. In particular, the rise of social media and over-the-top content systems — the delivery of media, including audio and video, over the Internet without a multiple-system operator controlling or distributing the content — has led to a rise in cyberbullying and cybercrime.
For example, last year a young entertainer — TV personality and model Peng Hsin-yi (彭馨逸), more commonly known by her stage name, Cindy Yang (楊又穎) — committed suicide after being bullied online over a long period of time. Recently there have also been reports that OurPPC, an Internet pay-per-click management service, bought keywords and resold them to advertisers as an illegal way to generate profits. Then there is also the pet hatred of the industry: cross-border network infringement.
The commission has proposed giving the police a legal basis to trace the source of Internet crime in one of the new telecom laws, the electronic communications act (電子通訊傳播法), which is admirable.
The key to the five new digital convergence laws is to set up the smooth operation of mobile base stations. A poll showed that at least 60 percent of the public believes that electromagnetic waves can cause cancer, resulting in a situation where the setting up of mobile base stations meets opposition at every turn.
However, what is strange is that the people who most strongly protest the installations are not members of the general public, but government agencies. Allowing the telecom industry to set up mobile base stations on public buildings or public land is expressly provided for in telecommunications law, so why is it that government agencies who loudly claim to uphold the law are taking the lead in flouting the law?
Protesters are concerned about the possible health threats posed by mobile base stations, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Environmental Protection Administration, which regulates such issues, cannot remain aloof. The NCC monitors telecom technology and does not have the expertise required to explain the impact of electromagnetic radiation on human health. Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國 ) needs to set up an inter-ministerial task force as soon as possible to once and for all resolve the relevant issues regarding the installation of 4G mobile base stations.
Taiwan’s communications networks are in the process of being upgraded from 3G to 4G. However, recently it was reported that South Korea has announced a plan to spend US$13.57 billion to shift into the 5G era, where transmission speeds are to be 1,000 times faster than 4G, in about 2017.
Presidential candidates proclaim that the future of Taiwan’s economy is the development of the Internet of Things and big data applications, smart grid cities and so on. If protests over base stations are not resolved, how would the nation ever be able to embrace 5G?
Ted Chiou is a professor in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at Yuan Ze University.
Translated by Clare Lear
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