The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday rejected the merger between Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT) and Ambit Microsystems Corp due to the lack of detailed information on APT’s roaming partnership with Taiwan Mobile Co.
“The applicant [APT] has indicated in its application its strategic alliance with another telecom carrier, which involves a roaming partnership whose legality is now still in dispute,” commission Chief Secretary Jason Ho (何吉森) said. “The applicant did not elaborate on the details of such a strategic alliance in its application. As such, the application was denied.”
Ho said that APT could submit the application again, which must contain a complete explanation of the roaming partnership.
Asked why the commission had to reject the application when it could simply ask APT to provide additional information on the roaming partnership, as has been done with other applicants in the past, Ho said that the company has to provide so much information that it might as well file a new application.
Earlier this month, NCC Chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) indicated that the commission would soon hold an administrative hearing on the roaming partnership, because the deal might have infringed upon the Telecommunications Act (電信法) and the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
NCC Telecommunications Administration Department Acting Director Liang Wen-hsing (梁溫馨) said that his department has almost completed the investigation into the partnership and that the results would be reviewed by NCC commissioners.
The 4G service carriers that filed a collective complaint against the partnership said that roaming is supposed to allow one carrier to continue servicing its customers in out-of-service areas via the networks of other carriers.
However, they said they had evidence showing that APT did not build the number of base stations it had said it would in its business plan and simply used the network built by Taiwan Mobile, which is not roaming.
Ho said that since the NCC is aware of the APT’s allegedly illegal roaming deal with another carrier, it could not ignore that fact when reviewing its proposed merger with Ambit Microsystems.
In view of the controversies caused by the APT-Taiwan Mobile roaming partnership, the commission is scheduled to hold another administrative hearing on the standards the commission should use to review the merger of mobile communications operators.
Ho said the commission has determined the topics to be discussed at this hearing, including commitments stated in business plans the carriers are required to hand over before the commission can allow them to merge.
Meanwhile, Ho said that hearing participants should also consider if telecoms are to be allowed to change their business plans so that they can share the core and radio access networks, as well as the conditions under which such a practice is permissible.
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