The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it had yet to decide whether to lower the percentage of increases in the bids for fourth-generation (4G) telecom licenses, adding that it would closely monitor each round to see if further action should be taken.
The auction, which began on Sept. 3, has attracted NT$64.79 billion (US$2.2 billion) in bids as of yesterday. It has already exceeded the floor price of NT$35.9 billion set by the NCC before the bidding had begun.
Many have warned that telecoms will overspend on a 4G license, which would in turn drive up their operating costs. Fearing that consumers could end up paying more for a 4G service, some have urged the commission to reduce the percentage increase in the bidding price to cool the auction.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To prevent the bidding from getting overheated, the commission has set a rule that the increase of the bidding price in each round can only be between 3 percent and 7 percent of that in the previous round.
In response, National Communications Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said that the commission had discussed the issue at a meeting and found it unnecessary to reduce the percentage increase in the bidding at this point.
“The carriers’ operational costs would certainly increase if they spend too much on a license, but they also have to take into consideration their operational strategies and target customers, as well as other factors, when they bid. We will watch the results of each round closely,” Yu said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) hosted a press conference yesterday morning, saying that the government should use the funds received from the 4G license auction to invest specifically in the building and maintenance of a broadband network to minimize the digital gap between urban and rural areas.
Yu said the commission welcomed the proposal, but added legislation covering the broadband network would need to be passed by the legislature.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS