The 5G service coverage rate is expected to reach 80 percent by 2024, National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said in a briefing to the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei yesterday.
The committee was scheduled to review the commission’s budget plan for fiscal 2021.
Chen told lawmakers that the government received a total of NT$142.19 billion (US$4.92 billion) in February through a two-phase auction that it held for telecom carriers to bid for 5G spectrum, adding that the three major telecoms — Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone Telecommunications — started offering the service in June.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Of the funds that the government obtained through the auction, NT$26.65 billion would be allocated to subsidize telecom carriers in building base stations for five years.
The rules governing the appropriation of subsidies to carriers would be publicly disclosed by the end of this year, Chen said.
“We are still discussing how the subsidies should be distributed among carriers,” he said. “Some have suggested that the amount of subsidy that each carrier receives should be determined by where they build the cell stations — in rural or urban areas. Others have suggested that we appropriate the funds based on the bids they paid.”
Part of the subsidies would help telecom carriers build 490 base stations in five years in remote townships, he said.
The 5G service coverage rate is at about 26 percent now, and the subsidies can help reinforce telecoms infrastructure in both urban and rural areas and accelerate the developments of applications using 5G systems, he added.
The commission also estimated that the nation’s 5G service coverage rate would reach 80 percent based on the speed at which carriers are expanding their base station infrastructure.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS