Frequency spectrum transaction regulations are to be listed in the Regulations Governing Mobile Telecommunications Business (行動寬頻業務管理規則) in the wake of controversies surrounding Asia-Pacific Telecom’s roaming partnership with Taiwan Mobile and with Ambit Microsystems Corp, the National Communications Commission (NCC) has said.
The commission said that it is scheduled to release a bandwidth of 190 megahertz (MHz) in the frequency band from 2,500MHz to 2,600MHz this year.
The regulations would limit the percentage of the shares that a telecom has in other telecoms, list the minimum number of high-speed transmission base stations and present the conditions to be met for the transaction of the frequency spectrums and other factors, it said.
“Telecoms that offer fourth-generation [4G] service must follow legal procedures before any roaming alliances,” the commission said.
While it encouraged carriers to create different, innovative business models to increase the diversity of services on the market, the commission said it would carefully monitor whether partnerships would hinder market competition.
Earlier this year, Asia-Pacific Telecom and Taiwan Mobile were each fined NT$300,000 for forming a roaming partnership without informing the commission in advance. A commission investigation found that Asia-Pacific Telecom launched service with just 295 base stations — less than a quarter of what it promised to provide in its business plan.
Asia-Pacific Telecom was found to be using the core network built by Taiwan Mobile without building its own, which the commission said did not meet the definition for “roaming.”
Asia-Pacific Telecom and Ambit were each fined for sharing the use of the core network, even though Ambit had yet to launch service at that time and the merger of the two companies had yet to be approved by the commission.
Asia-Pacific Telecom’s partnership with Taiwan Mobile had been accused of compromising consumers’ interests, since subscribers of the two firms were charged different rates for accessing the same network.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile’s core 4G network was frozen in March, affecting Asia-Pacific Telecom’s subscribers as well as its own.
The commission held two administrative hearings inviting all the stakeholders to present opinions on issues generated by the partnerships.
Opponents, such as Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications and Taiwan Star, said the commission should not allow telecom mergers to proceed if carriers fail to fulfill their obligations.
The rival firms added that Asia-Pacific Telecom did not fulfill the commitments in the business plan it used to bid for its 4G license. It used a technology different from the one in the plan and did not apply for the relevant change.
The three carriers under attack fought back, saying that many nations have encouraged telecoms to form roaming partnerships.
They added that it would be impossible for them to not build their own networks, as they still need to fulfill requirements from the government.
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