The National Communications Commission is scheduled to meet before the Lunar New Year holiday with fourth-generation (4G) telecom service providers in anticipation of an administrative hearing over the roaming alliance between Asia-Pacific Telecom Co and Ambit Microsystems Corp, commission Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) said, adding that the ruling in the case would be used to settle such disputes in the future.
Shyr previously said that the commission would hold an administrative hearing over the roaming alliance, as it might violate the Telecommunications Act (電信法) or the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法). To prepare for the hearing, Shyr said the commission would invite representatives from the nation’s 4G carriers, including Ambit chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘).
Ambit — a subsidiary of Gou’s Hon Hai Group — merged with Asia-Pacific Telecom last year, becoming the latter’s largest shareholder with 14.99 percent of its shares.
Ambit formed a strategic alliance with Taiwan Mobile Co, selling 5MHz of its bandwidth to it.
Taiwan Mobile became a main Asia-Pacific Telecom shareholder through a share-swap deal with Ambit.
Shyr said that the firms followed the rules when bidding for 4G licenses, and Ambit followed regulations by keeping its shares in Asia-Pacific Telecom at less than 15 percent.
While Ambit has yet to launch its 4G service, Asia-Pacific Telecom launched its service by building 290 base stations and forming a roaming deal with Taiwan Mobile.
“The purpose of the meeting is to determine whether Asia-Pacific Telecom’s actions are permissible. If what it did is permissible, then all the carriers should be able to do it as well,” Shyr said.
“From the commission’s perspective, we care only about whether consumers will be happy with this arrangement, when they have to share the use of a single network and [possibly] put up with poor mobile phone signals and slow Internet transmission rates,” he added.
Shyr said the commission did not foresee such a circumstance occurring when drafting the rules, adding that Ambit has skillfully exploited regulatory loopholes.
However, some telecoms reported the potentially illegal practice to the commission, he added.
Shyr said that the nation did not set specific regulations on roaming, as it is a customary practice and a tacit agreement in the telecommunications industry.
He added, however, that the international 4G service standards organization has clearly defined roaming service as between different service areas and between telecom services.
The service cannot be called “roaming” if the carrier offers the service in its licensed service area, he said.
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