Some fourth-generation (4G) telecom operators yesterday told an administrative hearing in Taipei that the government should not allow telecom carriers to merge operations without first fulfilling the commitments made in their business plans, adding that operators would be violating regulations if they change their core systems without informing the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The commission held the hearing amid controversy over the merger of Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT) and Ambit Microsystems Corp. An investigation by the commission found that although APT had said in its business plan that it was obligated to build a core network, it had been using the network built by Ambit. Their merger has yet to be approved by the commission.
APT was also supposed to use voice over long-term evolution (VOLTE) technology, but it was using circuit-switch fallback technology without first informing the commission.
Taiwan Star law affairs department vice president Leo Fang (方修忠) said that carriers involved in a merger must each fulfill their service commitments listed in their business plans before they file their applications.
If the NCC denied the renewal of WiMAX service provider Tatung Infocomm’s license for failing to deliver what it had promised in its business plan, the same rule should apply to 4G carriers, he said.
Fang said the company had promised to use VOLTE technology, which is a more advanced than the circuit-switch fallback system.
He said the commission would allow APT to offer service using a low-level technology if it allows the company to switch technologies, not to mention an obvious deviation from its business plan.
“The commission needs to fine the carrier and order it to address the situation within a designated period of time, or it should be stopped from continuing the illegal business,” he said.
Chung Kuo-chiang (鍾國強), senior director of Chunghwa Telecom’s legal affairs department, said that if a carrier makes the change without first reporting it to the NCC, the commission must quickly address the violation; it cannot allow the illegality to continue.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS