Basic infrastructure equipment produced abroad must be approved by the National Security Bureau and other agencies before it can be imported to be used by the nation’s telecoms and broadcast service operators, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The announcement, which came after the bureau last year banned the use of mobile phones produced by China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by government agencies, was widely viewed as a measure to further restrict the use of devices made in China due to national security concerns.
NCC spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the legislature’s Transportation Committee in 2013 passed a resolution banning telecoms from using Chinese-made products in their key infrastructure.
Before the commission released the licenses for 4G technology that year, it amended the Regulations for Administration of Mobile Broadband Businesses (行動寬頻業務管理規則), the Regulations for Administration on Fixed Network Telecommunications Business (固定通信業務管理規則) and the Regulations for Administration of the Third Generation Mobile Communications Business (第三代行動通信業務管理規則) to authorize the commission to reject telecom system construction plans in light of security regulations, he said.
The commission yesterday added similar clauses to seven other regulations governing telecoms and broadcasting services, Wong said.
Asked the types of devices that would be subject to the restrictions, Wong said that they include telecoms’ core networks, communication devices, and base stations and transmitters used by TV or radio stations.
The amendments would soon be available for public viewing, and the commission would gather feedback from telecoms and broadcasters before submitting them to the bureau, Wong said.
The bureau would then make a list of forbidden equipment, which the NCC would follow, he said.
In other developments, the commission said it would further expand its evaluation of mobile telecommunication services this year by measuring the speed of Internet service accessed by mobile users in post offices, police stations, railway stations and department stores.
The commission last year measured the mobile Internet speed in 7,851 locations nationwide, Wong said, adding that it would gather speed data from 10,381 locations this year.
This year’s evaluation would also examine mobile Internet speeds during peak and off-peak hours in MRT stations in Taipei and Kaohsiung, as well as the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT, Wong said.
In so doing, the commission would gauge if 4G networks built by the five telecoms can handle the increase in users’ demand for access within a short period, he said.
The commission would also examine the percentage of each telecom’s use of carrier aggregation, a technology that combines two or more carriers into one data channel to enhance data capacity, Wong said, adding that the indicator would motivate telecoms to enhance transmission quality in crowded areas, and on railways and highways.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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