The government is scheduled to complete its auction of its remaining bandwidth in the 2,500 megahertz (MHz) and 2,600MHz frequencies by November, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday, adding that the carriers that secure the frequencies must finish paying their bonds within a month.
A total of 190MHz in the upstream and downstream frequencies are to be released through the auction, including six blocks of 20MHz, two blocks of 10MHz and two blocks of 25MHz, commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said.
The frequencies are divided this way because telecoms said that it could maximize the efficiency of carrier aggregation technology and help raise transmission speeds, Yu said.
The two 25MHz blocks are reserved for so-called time division long-term evolution (TD-LTE) technology, and the carriers securing either of the blocks must leave 5MHz of “guard bandwidth” to avoid disruptions from neighboring frequency blocks, he said.
The commission is to amend the Regulations Governing Mobile Telecommunications Businesses (行動寬頻業務管理規則) to require telecoms that obtain the frequencies to either build at least 1,000 high-speed transmission base stations or have the service cover at least 50 percent of the population in a service area before they are allowed to merge their operations, Yu added.
The amendment was written to prevent telecoms from only bidding for the frequencies without doing anything with them, he said.
However, the amendment will not be applied retroactively to telecoms that have already merged.
In related news, Taiwan Mobile Co was fined NT$3 million (US$97,500) for failing to inform the commission in advance about changes in its use of its second-generation network.
The commission said that Taiwan Mobile merged with Mobitai Communications Co and TransAsia Telecommunications, and then moved to consolidate the use of the core network without applying for permission.
It has penalized Taiwan Mobile three times, including yesterday’s action, the commission said.
The company was also ordered to submit — within two weeks — a plan to address the violation and must correct the situation within two months. The commission can continue penalizing the firm until it addresses the situation, or it may annul the firm’s service license if the company repeatedly fails to meet legal requirements.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
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