The National Communications Commission (NCC) is to measure the transmission speeds of 5G services in the first quarter of next year, it said on Thursday, adding that the results would be published in 2023.
The commission has yet to test the speed of 5G services offered by Taiwan’s five major telecoms since the services were launched last year.
Commission Chief Secretary Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) said that the agency is still finalizing its methodology to measure speeds, as well as the way it would present the results.
“Most 5G services around the world use a non-standalone model, meaning that part of the service would still be offered through 4G cell stations,” Chen said. “Through a strategic partnership agreement, Asia-Pacific Telecom uses the 5G spectrum and network owned and built by Far EasTone Telecommunications. Under these situations, we have to figure out proper ways to present the results of a speed test.”
Results of the annual mobile telecommunications speed tests are an important guide for people when choosing data providers.
Telecoms use the results to highlight their advantages.
In other news, telecoms would soon obtain incentive subsidies from the government to accelerate installation of 5G cell stations after the commission finishes inspections next month.
The Executive Yuan has allocated NT$9.9 billion to NT$15.4 billion (US$357.53 million to US$556.16 million) this year and NT$5.5 billion next year to reward 5G operators who build more cell stations than they had pledged in their business plan.
In March, the commission promulgated rules governing the distribution of subsidies.
“In August, we distributed about NT$2.9 billion of this year’s budget after we reviewed firms’ cell station construction plans,” NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
“We are to verify whether they have achieved what they promised, with the survey to be completed by the end of next month,” Wong said, adding that telecoms could receive full subsidies for this year in second half of November.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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