The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday asked Taiwan Mobile’s management to explain next week why it has been offering services using the excess bandwidth in frequency bands below 1 Gigahertz (GHz) past Sunday’s deadline, after the commission had twice denied the company’s request for an extension.
The nation’s three large telecoms are permitted to have no more than 50 megahertz (MHz) in frequency bands below 1GHz, which can produce radio waves that have higher penetration and diffraction capabilities and enable telecoms to broaden the service coverage of 5G systems.
Taiwan Mobile obtained 60MHz in highly sought-after frequency bands due to its merger with Taiwan Star Telecom, which the commission approved last year on the condition that by Sunday Taiwan Mobile return the excess bandwidth of 10MHz to the government, or sell or transfer it to other telecoms.
Photo: Tsai Ssu-pei, Taipei Times
Taiwan Mobile challenged the NCC ruling at the High Court last year, saying that the excess bandwidth should not be returned to the government free of charge.
It also twice requested an extension to use the excess bandwidth, both of which were denied by the NCC.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs, which plans and regulates the use of frequency bands, yesterday told reporters that it has yet to receive Taiwan Mobile’s application to return the excess bandwidth, adding that it would work with the NCC to ensure that the telecom complies.
NCC officials said that they have ascertained that Taiwan Mobile has been using the excess bandwidth to provide services through three methods: using radio wave monitoring stations, dispatching personnel to conduct tests around base stations and administering inspections of the telecom’s network management center.
The telecom could be fined NT$500,000 to NT$5 million (US$15,322 to US$153,224) if it is determined to have contravened the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法) by failing to strictly adhere to the network construction plan it submitted to the NCC, commission officials said.
“The telecom would be given one more chance to make a statement before the commission makes a final ruling on the case,” the regulator said.
In other news, the NCC commissioners reached a unanimous decision to streamline evaluations of television channels, but the new rule does not apply to shopping networks, local channels or channels that produce news, financial news, stock market reports, children’s programs or X-rated content.
It would also not apply to channels that have records of breaching broadcast media regulations in the first three years of the licensing period.
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