The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信) had failed to pay approximately NT$40 million (US$1.3 million) in mandatory fees.
The commission said the company had not yet paid its telecom operating license and royalty fees amounting to about NT$20 million, which were due in June.
It had also failed to pay the required fees for using its frequency, which were due last month.
Since both payments are overdue, the commission is entitled to ask the company to pay a delinquency charge, it said.
The maximum delinquency charge could reach up to 15 percent of the company’s capital, the commission said.
The company is the nation’s only mobile operator on the PHS low-power system.
Company chairman Charlie Wu (吳清源) was asked to report to the commission yesterday on the company’s financial situation.
NCC spokesperson Hsieh Chin-nan (謝進男) said Wu admitted in the interview that the company was short of cash.
Hsieh said that Wu had proposed paying by installment, but the commission told him that the company needed to first apply for an extension, which has to be approved by the commission.
The mandatory charges are merely part of the debts the firm has accumulated at the moment.
A report published in the Chinese-language Commercial Times on Tuesday showed that Mega Holdings (兆豐金控) had asked the company to pay back two loans it had borrowed from the bank.
One of the loans, valued at NT$30 million, was due last week.
The bank sent an official letter to the company last Friday and took hold of NT$190 million in collateral.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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