The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday proposed regulations that would enhance its power to determine what entities would become significant market powers (SMPs), while allowing carriers to use frequencies more flexibly.
A draft telecommunications service management act was introduced at the commission’s final weekly meeting for the year, along with a draft digital communications act.
The commission said that both proposals are designed to meet challenges brought by the global trend of digital convergence.
The former is to replace the Telecommunications Act (電信法) and the other is intended to address issues to related to Internet use, it said.
Planning Department Director Wang De-wei (王德威) said that the commission identifies markets based on services operators provide.
For example, 2G and 3G telecommunication services are considered two separate markets, each with significant market powers, Wang said.
“The new rules would allow the commission to look at the type of service an operator offers and determine the market to which it belongs,” he said. “After identifying the market, the commission would determine whether there are SMPs in it that might affect competition. Those players would be subject to specific regulations and required to fulfill certain legal obligations.”
SMPs in the market now would not necessarily be SMPs under the new regulations, he said.
The commission said that market parameters would be determined by several factors, including the maturity of its services and technologies, geographical regions it covers, and issues of supply and demand.
Operators would be recognized as SMPs if they have ability to affect prices and conditions of a service, or if they own or control key infrastructure, it said.
Operators whose subscribers, or annual revenue reach a certain level would also be considered SMPs, it said.
The current regulations state that service operators must obtain licenses before they can use designated frequencies to offer services, Wang said.
However, if the proposed regulations are implemented, operators can apply to use frequencies without having to secure a license, he said.
They must submit plans on how they plan to use the frequencies and have them approved by the commission, Wang said, adding that firms would only have to register with the commission as a telecommunications service operator to access full rights to use an assigned frequency.
NCC Chairwoman Nicole Chan (詹婷怡) said that service operators are exempt from registering with the commission if their services do not involve the use of frequencies or the appropriation of telephone numbers.
NCC spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that according to the proposed rules, service operators would be able to build telecom networks with frequencies they own and lease them to other service providers, provided such a move was approved by the commission.
Applications like Line and Juiker are not obliged to register with the commission if they offer services over the Internet without connecting to public networks, Wong said.
Telecom operators would have a three-year transition period to meet the requirements of the new rules if they are promulgated, the commission said.
Chan said the draft digital communication act serves as an official government declaration that actions conducted over the Internet are not free of regulations, adding that the nation has laws to deal with copy infringement, the protection of children’s and young people’s rights and other issues associated with the Internet.
“The new rules will not increase burdens on operators,” Chan said. “We want to emphasize that Internet governance should be conducted by all administrative agencies, as it requires a cross-departmental effort.”
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