Lawmakers on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee criticized the Executive Yuan’s incentive program aimed at encouraging second-generation (2G) telecom service users to upgrade to the fourth-generation (4G) service, saying the government is using taxpayers’ money to profit telecom providers.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the definition of a 4G service is one that provides a transmission speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) for high-mobility communication and one gigabit per second (Gbps) for low-mobility communication.
However, the transmission speed of the 4G service in Taiwan is only 30Mbps, she said.
The service is slow because telecom providers have not built an adequate number of base stations and offer consumers unlimited access to the service at a flat rate, she said.
Yeh said that providers would raise the price for 4G services again if they do raise the transmission speed to 100Mpbs.
Because providers are now focused on the development of 4G services, they have actually stopped building new infrastructure for third-generation (3G) telecom services, she said.
Yeh said the Executive Yuan is seeking to profit the telecom companies even more by encouraging people still using the 2G service to upgrade to a 4G service, with each user making the change receiving a monthly subsidy of NT$200 for three consecutive months.
People can also receive a subsidy of NT$2,000 from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to purchase a 4G mobile phone as well, she said, adding that the government has spent more than NT$1 billion (US$30.44 million) to help people make the change from 2G to 4G.
“A lot of 2G users only use mobile phones to make or receive phone calls, but they are still encouraged to upgrade to 4G. The Executive Yuan is essentially paying the 4G providers using taxpayers’ money,” she said.
DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the government’s incentive program has helped telecom providers deal with the problems of the 2G service, which has about 1.3 million users in the nation.
However, the government has failed to address the issues facing the 3G service, which has about 19 million users, he said.
NCC Chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) said that 4G transmission speeds of 100Mpbs are only possible in ideal conditions when there is no interference.
He added that 2G licenses are scheduled to expire 2017, and the government uses the subsidies not only to help people quickly upgrade their service, but also to maximize the efficiency of radio spectrum use.
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