The National Communications Commission (NCC) plans to present the draft digital convergence act to the Executive Yuan in December next year, commission Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) said yesterday, adding that the government would release the frequency blocks in the 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for auction next year as well.
Shyr said the act would integrate four different laws governing telecommunications, cable services, terrestrial TV and channels, and cross-media management, and would address several critical issues facing the telecommunication as well as media industries.
Regarding Chunghwa Telecom Co’s control over the “last mile” — the final leg of telecommunication network delivering connectivity to retail consumers — Shyr said the commission believes that forcing the company to establish a separate business entity to manage the “last mile” was not the only solution to the problem, as there are other effective means to address the issue.
Shyr also confirmed that the government is scheduled to put up the frequency spectrums in the 2.6GHz band for auction next year, which he estimated could generate NT$15 billion (US$498 million) in state revenue.
Shyr quoted statistics from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) last year, which estimated that 1,930 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum are needed to meet the rising data transmission volume by 2020. Using the ITU’s standard, the nation still needs 1,470MHz in the next six years to meet the demand for mobile communication services.
Currently, the 2.6GHz frequency spectrum is mostly used by WiMAX operators.
Shyr said that WiMAX operators and new long-term evolution technology (4G) operators would have to share the use of the spectrum after it is placed for auction. The commission has agreed to allow WiMAX operators to upgrade their technology and are also qualified to bid for the spectrum.
As of last month, 4G services had attracted approximately 310,000 users since the service was launched at the end of May.
Asked whether the government would establish a mechanism to avoid overheated bidding for the 2.6GHz spectrum, Shyr said that the revenue generated from the 4G spectrum last year — NT$118.65 billion in total — was too high and was not something he expected to see.
“Judging from the auction last year, we know that telecom carriers had placed bids strategically and the carrier who paid the highest amount in the bid launched the service first,” he said. “The government could be criticized if it puts a brake on the bidding process, because it essentially disrupts the order of the market. The only way to check the fairness of the game was to see if the consumers are paying more to access 4G services than 3G services.”
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