Asia-Pacific Telecom (亞太電信) was fined NT$300,000 for failing to fulfill the commitments stated in its fourth-generation (4G) telecom service business plan, the National Communications Commission said yesterday.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said that Asia-Pacific Telecom failed to fulfill its commitments after acquiring the permit to construct its network.
Yu said that the carrier failed to provide the stipulated number of base stations and service coverage areas in the plan approved by the commission, a breach of the Telecommunication Act (電信法).
In addition to facing the fine, the carrier was given three months to address the violation, Yu said.
Earlier this year, the carrier was fined NT$300,000 for failing to disclose to the commission its roaming agreement with Taiwan Mobile Co (台哥大).
Asia-Pacific Telecom later faced a fine of NT$300,000 for sharing a core network with Ambit Corp (國碁), another 4G carrier.
Yu said that the penalty the commission handed down yesterday was only for the carrier’s failure to fulfill its business plan, adding that the commission has yet to address the issues related to the roaming agreement with Taiwan Mobile and network sharing with Ambit.
“The commission has consulted all the relevant regulations and will discuss them in the commissioners’ meeting. The results of the discussion will be applied to similar cases in the future,” Yu said, adding that Taiwan Mobile would be asked to turn in a comprehensive report explaining why its network was out of service three times this year.
The network of the nation’s No. 2 telecom company was temporarily out of service on Sunday, affecting about 110,000 of its subscribers.
Asia-Pacific Telecom was also affected by the incident due to its roaming agreement with Taiwan Mobile, disrupting service for about 18,000 Asia-Pacific Telecom subscribers.
Both Taiwan Mobile and Asia-Pacific Telecom had promised to reduce subscribers’ service fees by 5 percent this month as compensation, based on contract terms that stipulate such compensation is offered if the service is out for more than two hours.
Taiwan Mobile said the network was out of service for less than two hours from 12:30pm to 2:05pm on Sunday.
Liang Wen-hsing (梁溫馨), deputy director of the commission’s telecommunications administration department, said the commission would seek to verify the company’s statement.
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