Conference on Issues with Mobile Broadband Services and the Release of 2.6 GHz licenses

Trans-editor: Yating Chan/  Proofreader: Yu-li Liu

Date: July 7, 2015

Venue: GIS Taipei Tech Convention Center 

On July 7, the Taiwan Communications Society (TCS) and the 21st Century Foundation co-hosted the Conference on Issues with Mobile Broadband Services and the Release of 2.6 GHz Licenses at GIS Taipei Tech Convention Center. 

The Conference consisted of four sessions, including “Resale of spectrum,” “Spectrum allocation, interference, and clearance,” “Spectrum cap and market competition,” and “Mobile broadband and spectrum policies,” with scholars, experts, and officials in attendance as moderators and presenters.

Dr. Howard Shyr, Chairperson of the National Communications Commission (NCC), said in his opening remarks that the key to a more innovative telecom industry lies in academia and industry working hand-in-hand under the current regulations. Taiwan’s slight amendments to the Telecommunications Act over the past few years have allowed more flexibility in the industry, said Shyr, and the regulations on spectrum allocation (e.g., 4G LTE) have been tailored based on local operators’ experience (e.g., the 4G data plan with a low fee rate and a fast transmission rate has been highly praised by China Mobile).  

TCS President Yu-li Liu said that it is an honor for TCS to serve as an open and impartial platform for academia, industry, and government to discuss issues related to the release of 2.6 GHz licenses, which concerns innumerable stakeholders and is in the public interest. Yuntsai Chou, Vice Chief Executive Officer and R&D Officer of the 21st Century Foundation, said she looks forward to seeing more telecom operators participating in research and discussion of NCC’s latest regulatory changes on lock-in periods and spectrum resale.  

In the session on the Resale of Spectrum, Dr. Po-li Liu, Director of Research Division IV at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said that telecom operators in Taiwan are currently faced with problems of Internet traffic jams and a lack of frequency bands. He said that faster data transmission rate is necessary to offer greater capacity for content services.

Chong-Jian Liu, Professor in the Department of Economics at National Taipei University, said that from the industry’s viewpoint, an environment that allows fair competition and effective use of spectrum resources is the cornerstone for industry development.    

Arthur Shay, Head of the Technology, Media, Telecoms (TMT) team of Shay & Partners, said the authority should reveal its spectrum allocation schedule to the public so that local telecom operators can know when to follow suit and provide better services to customers.  

Chia-Pin Chen, Chief Technology Officer of Asia Pacific Telecom, said that Taiwan can learn from the experience of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s policies on the transfer of spectrum (e.g., the case for circuit-switch fallback).  

Hsiao-Cheng Yu, Vice Chairperson of the National Communications Commission (NCC), concluded that as a supervisory agency, the Commission would consider and act for the public benefit under fair market competition and that spectrum resale would motivate telecom operators to provide users with the best services and, with free market competition, open the door for a sound and comprehensive industry.    

The second session on Spectrum Allocation, Interference, and Clearance invited NCC Commissioner Shin-yi Peng as the moderator, with Professor Hsien-ming Lien of the Public Finance Department at National Chengchi University, Professor Jenn-Hawn Tarng of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at National Chiao Tung University, Senior Consultant Be-lien Wang of the Telecom Technology Center (TTC), Chief Vice President of Network Planning and Technology of Taiwan Mobile Tom Koh, and Chief Vice President of the Internet Service Group of Taiwan Star Telecom Zuo-Ming Chen as speakers.

Professor Hsien-ming Lien said that the NCC could learn from the U.S. FCC’s incentive auction plans, in which the re-auctioned spectrum fees are paid to old spectrum holders in compensation for their clearance cost. The NCC could consider an annual year-end payment to ensure that former spectrum holders have completed the clearance, Lien added.  

NCC Commissioner Shin-yi Peng agreed with Lien but said that there were difficulties in integrating all of the auctioned frequency bands. 

Representatives of the local telecom operators said that although the NCC’s plan for the 2.6 GHz release fits the worldwide trend of spectrum allocation, clear bidding rules are still required.  

Tom Koh, Chief Vice President of Network Planning and Technology of Taiwan Mobile, said that the authority should reveal the results of its review of WBA operators’ license extension applications before holding the 2.6 GHz bidding so that the potential bidders can assess their in-use spectrum’s value and the cost after their licenses expire. 

Telecom Technology Center (TTC) Senior Consultant Be-lien Wang agreed with Koh and said that the NCC should make due information disclosures to reduce telecom operators’ uncertainty on spectrum planning. Wang further pointed out that an E.U. report showed that 2.6 GHz release would cause severe signal interference to both FDD and TDD base stations.

Zuo-Ming Chen, Chief Vice President of the Internet Service Group of Taiwan Star Telecom, said that reducing the cost of signal interference will require both the interferer and the interfered with to work together (e.g., to recognize the need to promote wireless technology and set up notch filters in base stations).

Jenn-Hwan Tarng, Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at National Chiao Tung University, said that to reach a consensus, telecom operators could start by figuring out which signals have caused interference from an engineering technology perspective, as there are many.

The third session on Spectrum Cap and Market Competition featured Ching-ho Chen, Vice President of Shih Hsin University, as moderator, and five other scholars and experts served as speakers, including Chuen-fa Chuang, Professor of Science and Technology at Jinwen University; Ta-Sung Lee, President of the Telecom Technology Center; Zse-hong Tsai, Professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering Department and the Graduate Institute of Industrial Engineering at National Taiwan University; Kuo-chiang Chung, Director of the Legal Affairs Department of Chunghwa Telecom; and Dick Lin, Chief Vice President of Spectrum Planning and the Project Office of FarEasTone.   

Professor Chuen-fa Chuang said that the spectrum is not only a fundamental part of the telecom industry but also a quasi-public property that requires the regulatory authorities to set rules on its use and licenses. Chuang believed that the three major local players have contributed to effective competition in Taiwan’s market and that spectrum resources will be used more efficiently if telecom operators can decide when to sell the frequency bands they hold.   

Ching-ho Chen, Vice President of Shih Hsin University, said that how to make the most use of spectrum resources without band interference has become the most important issue in the 4G era and that it is therefore vital to set rules for spectrum auctions.

Telecom Technology Center President, Ta-Sung Lee, said that the purpose of setting a spectrum cap is to prevent a monopoly of spectrum resources, although the current amendment to the Regulations for Administration of Mobile Broadband Businesses Draft Act stipulates that under special conditions, spectrum holders might be exempt from the spectrum cap with the sanction of the authorities (the NCC), enabling the flexibility of spectrum resale and the possibility of developing license-shared access and unlicensed access for better user experience. 

Zse-hong Tsai, Professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering Department and Graduate Institute of Industrial Engineering at National Taiwan University, said that with the expiration of 3G licenses in 2019 and the early re-auction in late 2016, the NCC should consider whether it is feasible for telecom operators to comply with the one-third spectrum cap regulation in the current Regulations for Administration of Mobile Broadband Businesses Draft Act, as they might seek to form business alliances with high cross holdings. To determine when to loosen or tighten the regulations, Tsai added, the government should observe the market and technology evolution closely, as multi-band operators are likely to expand substantially with their shared infrastructure models in the 5G era.          

Kuo-chiang Chung, Director of the Legal Affairs Department of Chunghwa Telecom, said that the NCC should think clearly about the “whys” before opening a door for spectrum resale and that the current lock-in period regulation should be extended to a later operation stage to maintain a competitive and orderly telecom market.  

Dick Lin, Chief Vice President of Spectrum Planning and the Project Office of FarEasTone, said that to keep in line with the principle of fair competition, the NCC’s spectrum cap regulation should include frequency bands that have already been in use by telecom operators in its cap calculation. 

The last session on Mobile Broadband and Spectrum Policies invited Minister without Portfolio Yu-ling Tsai as moderator and presidents from five telecom operators as speakers.

Minister without Portfolio Yu-ling Tsai said that spectrum resources are highly related to civil communications and freedom of speech, and with the technology evolution, they have further expanded to the public services field (e.g., IoT and smart living). Therefore, Tsai added, it is quite a challenge for the supervisory authorities to set or adjust regulations for flexible management, particularly given the rapidly changing technologies.  

Among the five telecom operators representatives, Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone, and Taiwan Mobile hoped that the 2.6 GHz re-auction comes after the frequency band’s clearance, while Taiwan Star and Asia Pacific Telecom called for a quick 2.6 GHz re-auction, as they have an urgent need for frequency bands.    

Local telecom operators also called on the NCC to set lock-in periods and specific requirements for joint applicants (especially on their request for a merger or acquisition) before holding the 2.6 GHz license re-auction, as Asia Pacific Telecom and Taiwan Mobile had created a controversy relating to their cooperation with 4G roaming, where Taiwan Mobile opened its network to APT users without reporting to the NCC.