Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT) could soon face a penalty for a purported roaming alliance with Taiwan Mobile Co, after the National Communications Commission (NCC) reportedly found conclusive evidence that the practice violates the Telecommunication Act (電信法).
The commission is set to have its weekly commissioners’ meeting on Monday, in which a ruling could be made on the case.
The commission said that APT users should communicate via the carrier’s own network. If users are outside the carrier’s service area, they can communicate using the networks of other carriers, which is called roaming.
While roaming is legal, the commission found that the partnership between APT and Taiwan Mobile does not qualify as roaming. Its investigation showed that APT service users access the network of Taiwan Mobile even when they are in APT’s service area.
The practice is not permissible for all tier-I telecom carriers, the commission said.
It added that APT stated in its 4G telecom service business plan that it would build more than 2,000 base stations nationwide, but it has built just 295 base stations so far.
Because of the controversy generated by the problematic partnership, the commission plans to host an administrative hearing on the range of permissible practices for 4G carriers after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Meanwhile, the commission allowed Far EasTone Telecommunications and First International Telecom to stop offering WiMAX services.
NCC spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said that First International was allowed to terminate its service yesterday and Far EasTone is to stop the service on March 10.
Yu said that Far EasTone has just 192 WiMAX users. As compensation for these customers, he said the company has allowed them to use 4G service for free for a year and provided them with free 4G smartphones.
Yu also said that First International has been declared bankrupt and applied for termination of its WiMAX service. The carrier stopped collecting monthly fees from its customers in September last year, he added.
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