The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it would discuss with telecoms ways to waive a NT$300 fee to have embedded SIM (eSIM) cards installed on mobile phones.
Unlike traditional SIM cards, which must be manually inserted into SIM slots on phones, an eSIM card can be installed by scanning a QR code provided by a telecom.
When changing to a new mobile phone, users can use “over the air” wireless technology to reinstall their eSIM on the new phone.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
Apart from saving users the hassle of changing SIM cards, an eSIM also makes it possible for users to have dual SIM cards installed on a smartphone, allowing work and personal calls on the same device.
However, eSIMs can only be installed on newer smartphone models that support the feature, and users are charged a NT$300 fee when they purchase a new phone or switch to a different telecom.
Although there is no production cost for eSIM cards, the information security and verification technologies required for remote transmission are quite complex, the commission said.
“As such, so far only platforms verified by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association can issue eSIM cards, which would regularly charge telecoms maintenance fees, eSIM installation fees and fees for securing electronic serial numbers,” it said.
Such costs cannot be unilaterally decided by telecoms, the commission said.
“We will work with the telecoms to see if there is room for fee reduction,” NCC Vice Chairman and spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
Currently, telecoms waive eSIM installation fees if subscribers install them for the first time. They also waive the fees for “VIP” customers and people who have recently renewed their service contracts or need to change to a new eSIM every five years.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
RSS