The National Communications Commission yesterday decided to streamline the application process for construction of 4G telecom service base stations.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the nation’s telecom carriers have all increased the pace at which base stations are being built due to fierce competition in the 4G market and the rapid growth in users.
Some of the carriers are building base stations so fast that they had greatly exceeded the goals stated in their business plans, so they must file changes, he said.
Regulations require the carriers to file for a change in business plans before the commission could process their applications for base station construction and for permissions to import base stations, Yu said.
The commission considered that the telecom carriers can file all three applications simultaneously, as long as they only need to change the number of the base stations they plan to build and the specific timeline they intend to follow in their business plans, he said.
Other items stated in the business plan, such as the funding scheme, shareholding structure and technology used to offer the service, must remain unchanged, he said.
The Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) states that the commission has a maximum two months to review the change in business plans, but the streamlined procedures would help shorten the processing time, he said.
However, Yu said that the streamlined procedures do not apply to changes in business plans that could be a national security concern and involve the change in the use of the communication technology. These cases are reviewed per the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, he said.
In other developments, Yu said the commission would begin reviewing Far Eastone Telecommunications’ acquisition of the cable television systems owned by the China Network Systems (中嘉網路, CNS) by the end of this month, adding that the commissioners would determine if a public hearing should be held.
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