Chunghwa Telecom has been given permission to continue offering its satellite communication service until 2022, due to an increase in demand, the National Communications Commission said yesterday.
The nation’s largest telecom has since May 21, 2012, been permitted to offer its satellite communication service through satellites owned by Thuraya, a United Arab Emirates-based regional mobile-satellite service provider, the commission said.
Thuraya’s two satellites cover communication services in 142 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, and resolve problems caused by inadequate mobile coverage, it said.
Users of the satellite service can also access the service using a satellite mobile phone, which weighs less than 200g, the commission said.
Mobile phone users cannot receive signals in some mountainous areas, because it is difficult for telecoms to build base stations there, but people participating in outdoor activities and rescuers can use satellite services to communicate in emergency situations, it said.
The number of people accessing the company’s satellite communication service has grown from 1,600 in 2016 to 2,700 so far this year, commission data showed.
Most of the users are emergency responders from government agencies, the commission said.
In other news, the commission said that it would next month make public an amendment to the Regulations for Administration of Mobile Broadband Businesses (行動寬頻管理規則) to facilitate the release of 5G licenses next year.
By law, the commission must allow for a two-month public consultation period when amending the regulations, it said, adding that it is likely to start accepting applications for the 5G license auction near the end of September.
The commission must review the business plans from interested bidders first, it said, adding that the auction could begin soon after the commission publicizes the list of bidders that have qualified at the beginning of December.
The 5G auction should be completed by the end of January next year, the commission said.
Earlier this week, the Executive Yuan announced the nation’s 5G action plan.
The government is to spend NT$20.46 billion (US$650.97 million) from this year to 2022 to support the development and testing of 5G technology.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching