The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it has sought assistance from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to ascertain if SET TV (三立電視) indirectly invested in Homeplus Digital (中嘉寬頻) in contravention of the conditions set by the commission when it approved the sale of the multiple-system operator.
The commission said it had initiated an investigation after receiving a tip from New Power Party legislators Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華), Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) and Claire Wang (王婉諭), who said that three large shareholders of the cable television network have indirect holdings in Hung Shun Investment (泓順投資), which owns 100 percent of Homeplus.
Through the indirect investment scheme, SET TV owns 27 percent of Homeplus, they said.
.Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The NCC in 2018 approved Y.L. Lin Hung Tai Education and Culture Charity Trust Fund’s application to purchase Homeplus (previously known as China Networks Systems) after it pledged to spend NT$4 billion (US$124 million) on educational, cultural, charity and medical projects, NT$400 million of which would be allocated to enhancing media literacy and quality.
The fund’s affiliated enterprises and shareholders must also not directly or indirectly manage or control news channels, the NCC ruling said.
NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法) only requires Homeplus to report to the commission when there is a change in shareholders who directly own more than 5 percent of the company’s shares.
The regulation does not cover individuals or companies that have direct or indirect investments in Homeplus’ parent company.
On Sept. 12, Hung Shun Investment representatives visited the NCC to answer questions about alleged funding from SET TV.
Huang Rui-di (黃睿迪), a specialist at the NCC’s Department of Platform and Business, said that Homeplus has so far not contravene any regulations in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法).
However, whether the owner has fulfilled its pledges to the NCC is under scrutiny, Huang said.
“From 2019 to last year, the trust fund spent NT$260 million to enhance media literacy and quality. As for using the trust fund for educational and other projects, we will work with the Ministry of Education to ensure that funding for media literacy continues,” Huang said.
“We have also asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs to provide us a with a complete list of Homeplus’ shareholding structure to determine whether the company has failed to live up to its promise not to manage or control news channels,” Huang said.
In other news, the commission is drafting regulations to better manage telecoms and telecommunications numbers to prevent the numbers from being used to commit fraud, Wong said.
The draft regulations would require telecoms to thoroughly authenticate the identities of telecom service users by asking them to present two identification documents, Wong said, adding that telecoms must have a department that is separate from their business divisions to audit service user accounts independently.
“We have determined that the service of receiving text messages containing verification codes on behalf of users, such as one-time passwords, contravenes the regulations governing the use of telecommunication numbers and has been abused by telephone scammers,” Wong said.
The new regulations would also require telecoms that allow people to file applications for telecom services online to first secure approvals from the NCC.
“With the advancements in technology, it has become highly possible that some online telecom service applicants would use ID cards with photoshopped or deep fake pictures,” Wong said.
“As such, telecoms must have the capability to detect forged ID cards if they accept online applications,” he said.
The proposed regulations would further require that only registered telecoms — mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators — can be given telephone numbers for wholesale services and can transfer these numbers to their corporate customers, Wong said.
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