The National Communications Commission (NCC) last week fined Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) NT$1 million (US$33,091) for its 3G service coverage falling below a regulatory threshold.
The Telecommunications Act (電信法) requires that a telecom’s 3G service coverage rate be at least 75 percent, but the company’s coverage had fallen below 50 percent, which led to poor reception, NCC spokesman Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said on Wednesday.
Weng said the commission in February received numerous complaints from users about Asia Pacific Telecom’s coverage.
An investigation by the commission found that the company’s 3G service coverage rate was 46.9 percent, he said.
“We tested the company’s base stations, and found that base stations suffered power failures and the company failed to repair malfunctioning stations, leading to lower reception quality,” he said, adding that the commission requested the company to address the issues within three months.
APT, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), has about 2,100 3G subscribers.
It was the first time a telecom was fined for poor reception.
The commission has proposed two solutions to APT: It can either improve the reception of its 3G service, which uses Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, or use 4G signals, Weng said.
The 4G system uses long-term evolution (LTE) technology, he said.
“The company should not compromise the quality of service offered to its 3G service subscribers. If it ends the transmission of 3G signals before the 3G license expires, it must ensure that the subscribers have a seamless migration from 3G to 4G service,” Weng said.
While saying it respects the commission’s ruling, APT issued two statements saying that the government should take into account the discrepancy between the company’s 3G service coverage and its number of 3G subscribers.
A CDMA base station consumes an average of 1,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, company statistics showed.
The electricity used by all CDMA stations exceeds 48.6 million kilowatt-hours, the company said, adding that the resources are being used to serve only 2,100 3G subscribers.
Only about 1,000 of those subscribers are active users, APT added.
The company said that CDMA technology uses the 850 megahertz frequency band, which is close to the LTE band at 900 megahertz.
“As CDMA and LTE stations are installed on rooftops, which have limited space, they are likely to interfere with one another,” the company said, adding that that is why the service coverage rate of 3G services had fallen to 46.9 percent.
The company said it would take necessary measures to reduce interference from its 4G stations.
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