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.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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