Basic infrastructure equipment produced abroad must be approved by the National Security Bureau and other agencies before it can be imported to be used by the nation’s telecoms and broadcast service operators, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The announcement, which came after the bureau last year banned the use of mobile phones produced by China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by government agencies, was widely viewed as a measure to further restrict the use of devices made in China due to national security concerns.
NCC spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the legislature’s Transportation Committee in 2013 passed a resolution banning telecoms from using Chinese-made products in their key infrastructure.
Before the commission released the licenses for 4G technology that year, it amended the Regulations for Administration of Mobile Broadband Businesses (行動寬頻業務管理規則), the Regulations for Administration on Fixed Network Telecommunications Business (固定通信業務管理規則) and the Regulations for Administration of the Third Generation Mobile Communications Business (第三代行動通信業務管理規則) to authorize the commission to reject telecom system construction plans in light of security regulations, he said.
The commission yesterday added similar clauses to seven other regulations governing telecoms and broadcasting services, Wong said.
Asked the types of devices that would be subject to the restrictions, Wong said that they include telecoms’ core networks, communication devices, and base stations and transmitters used by TV or radio stations.
The amendments would soon be available for public viewing, and the commission would gather feedback from telecoms and broadcasters before submitting them to the bureau, Wong said.
The bureau would then make a list of forbidden equipment, which the NCC would follow, he said.
In other developments, the commission said it would further expand its evaluation of mobile telecommunication services this year by measuring the speed of Internet service accessed by mobile users in post offices, police stations, railway stations and department stores.
The commission last year measured the mobile Internet speed in 7,851 locations nationwide, Wong said, adding that it would gather speed data from 10,381 locations this year.
This year’s evaluation would also examine mobile Internet speeds during peak and off-peak hours in MRT stations in Taipei and Kaohsiung, as well as the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT, Wong said.
In so doing, the commission would gauge if 4G networks built by the five telecoms can handle the increase in users’ demand for access within a short period, he said.
The commission would also examine the percentage of each telecom’s use of carrier aggregation, a technology that combines two or more carriers into one data channel to enhance data capacity, Wong said, adding that the indicator would motivate telecoms to enhance transmission quality in crowded areas, and on railways and highways.
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
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