The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday fined Chunghwa Telecom NT$1 million (US$30,000) for falsely promoting its optical fiber network services.
The company advertised one of its network services as having the quality of an optical fiber network, but parts of the network continued to use cable network technology, FTC spokespersion Shih Hui-fen (施惠芬) said.
The FTC also consulted with the National Communications Commission, which informed the FTC that the network services advertised by the company also include fiber technologies such as fiber-to-the-curb and fiber-to-the-home, parts of which utilize non-fiber technology.
Shih said that Chunghwa Telecom compared its fiber network service to cable modem services to highlight the faster data transfer and better transmission quality of its fiber network. However, the company’s fiber network still makes use of cable networks and parts of cable modem systems can also make use of optical fiber, thereby rendering the comparison wholly inaccurate, she said.
The FTC also found that Chunghwa Telecom did not provide accurate information about its competitors’ cable modem services in the comparison.
The FTC fined the company NT$1 million for violation of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
In response to the fine, Chunghwa Telecom said that the comparison between its fiber network technology and cable modems was taken from an industry research study in 2007. Advances in technology meant that what may have been true in 2007 may not be true today, and the company has already removed the information from its Web site.
The company also claimed that the network service information did not constitute an advertisement because it was only posted on its company Web site. A spokesperson said the company would consider its next move after receiving official notification from the FTC.
In related news, the FTC yesterday also fined Global Mall (中和環球購物中心) NT$200,000 for false advertising involving the give-away of two round-trip tickets to Seoul.
Shih said that Global Mall advertised on its flyers that customers would be able to enter into a draw each day for two round-trip airplane tickets from Taipei to Seoul if they made purchases at the mall. However, the company failed to mention on its flyers that the round-trip tickets were actually “certificates” that could only be exchanged for discount airfares at participating travel agencies, or that customers needed to make additional payments for group tours operated by participating travel agencies.
“The way the mall advertised the tickets on its flyers misled customers into thinking that they would receive free plane tickets that could be used independent of package tours by participating in this promotional event,” Shih said.
In response, Global Mall said that the original intent of the promotional activity was not to fool or mislead consumers. The said it would comply with the finding against it and remove the misleading information from its flyers immediately.
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