The government will hold a meeting to examine the purchase of 4G base station equipment from China and will not make any assumptions about the security of the equipment, a top official said yesterday.
Minister of Science and Technology Simon Chang (張善政) said the issue would be discussed by officials from the Executive Yuan, the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Security Bureau, but a date has not yet been set for the meeting.
“We should ignore political concerns and study the security risks associated with the equipment,” Chang said in response to a recent dispute over approval of the use of telecom equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co.
“4G equipment is different from 3G, and we are expected to spend some time to gain a better understanding [of the issues],” he said on the sidelines of a local forum on the digital home and multimedia industry.
From a technological perspective, Taiwanese authorities will assess the risk that Huawei has added “backdoors” in its equipment to allow the Chinese government access, and if not, Taiwan should approve the use of the equipment, Chang said.
On Thursday last week, Hon Hai Precision Industry co Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said that Hon Hai would stop paying taxes if subsidiary Ambit Microsystems is not allowed to use equipment from Huawei to operate its 4G telecom services.
Gou later denied pressuring the NCC to approve the use of Huawei equipment, saying he only wanted to know whether China-made telecommunication equipment would be approved so that the company could decide on its next move.
Taiwan Mobile president James Jeng (鄭光遠) said at the forum that his company is using Nokia equipment and is making no assumptions about Huawei equipment.
He urged the government to provide “clear rules” on the use of China-made telecom equipment so that local carriers can follow the regulations.
Meanwhile, Chang said industry consolidation could help local 4G operators, as it could boost some operators’ economies of scale and help them provide better services.
Competition is stiff in Taiwan because the market appears more crowded than in other countries, he added.
“If there could be a suitable consolidation of the [4G] market, it could help some carriers grow,” Chang said. “But growing company size does not equal making more money. A bigger company size could help the operators reach economies of scale and bring better mobile services to consumers.”
He described a market consolidation of Taiwanese 4G operators as “reasonable” in light of the upcoming operation of Taiwan’s 4G LTE network and a government plan to release 4G spectrums that are currently occupied by WiMAX network operators.
Chang’s remarks came in the wake of an announcement on Thursday last week by Taiwan Star Cellular Corp, a telecom arm of conglomerate Ting Hsin International Group, that it would make a bid to acquire Asia Pacific Telecom Co to consolidate the two companies’ resources and offer 4G LTE services.
Taiwan Star is not the only suitor that aims to acquire Asia Pacific Telecom. Ambit Microsystems has made a similar proposal
Taiwan Star and Ambit Microsystems are both new telecom service providers that secured a 4G telecom license in the auction in October last year.
Four other telecom operators that already provide 3G services — Asia Pacific Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom Co, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co and Taiwan Mobile — also obtained 4G licenses.
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