The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday rejected Tatung Infocomm’s license renewal application and said it has to return the spectrum it owns to the commission after its license expires at the end of the year.
NCC spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the commission turned down Tatung Infocomm’s application because it failed to build 1,837 WiMAX base stations as stated in the business plan it submitted to the commission.
As of May 31 this year, the company had built only 681 base stations, Yu said.
The commission also conducted random inspections of the base stations and found that 47 were not functioning, he said.
Article 46 of the Regulations for Administration of Wireless Broadband Access Business (無線寬頻接取業務管理規則) lists seven conditions for denying a license application, the most important of which is failure to complete the system construction plan or execute the responsibilities stated in the business plan without justifiable reasons, Yu added.
“The company argued that it failed to deliver on its promises to construct the base stations because there were no international manufacturers producing base stations for WiMAX services anymore,” Yu said. “However, we found an Israeli manufacturer that is still producing WiMAX base stations, so there is no justifiable reason for the company not to fulfill the terms of its business plan.”
Tatung Infocomm launched its WiMAX service in 2009. It has 3,557 service subscribers.
Cheng Ming-tsung (鄭明宗), head of the commission’s mobile communications section, said that Tatung Infocomm could continue providing the service until its license expires on Dec. 3.
Cheng added that the company is obligated to give its subscribers at least one month’s notice before terminating the service.
The company is also obligated to return the spectrum which it acquired through an auction to the commission after its license expires, he said.
Tatung Infocomm is the nation’s first WiMAX operator to apply for a license renewal.
Telecommunication industry insiders said that the commission’s ruling serves as a warning to other WiMAX operators, as many have not completed the installations stated in their business plans.
WiMAX operators are currently using spectrums in the 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) frequency.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has announced that the government would place the 2.6GHz band up for auction to long-term evolution (LTE) technology, also known as 4G, telecom service providers next year.
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