The National Communications Commission (NCC) is to measure the transmission speeds of 5G services in the first quarter of next year, it said on Thursday, adding that the results would be published in 2023.
The commission has yet to test the speed of 5G services offered by Taiwan’s five major telecoms since the services were launched last year.
Commission Chief Secretary Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) said that the agency is still finalizing its methodology to measure speeds, as well as the way it would present the results.
“Most 5G services around the world use a non-standalone model, meaning that part of the service would still be offered through 4G cell stations,” Chen said. “Through a strategic partnership agreement, Asia-Pacific Telecom uses the 5G spectrum and network owned and built by Far EasTone Telecommunications. Under these situations, we have to figure out proper ways to present the results of a speed test.”
Results of the annual mobile telecommunications speed tests are an important guide for people when choosing data providers.
Telecoms use the results to highlight their advantages.
In other news, telecoms would soon obtain incentive subsidies from the government to accelerate installation of 5G cell stations after the commission finishes inspections next month.
The Executive Yuan has allocated NT$9.9 billion to NT$15.4 billion (US$357.53 million to US$556.16 million) this year and NT$5.5 billion next year to reward 5G operators who build more cell stations than they had pledged in their business plan.
In March, the commission promulgated rules governing the distribution of subsidies.
“In August, we distributed about NT$2.9 billion of this year’s budget after we reviewed firms’ cell station construction plans,” NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
“We are to verify whether they have achieved what they promised, with the survey to be completed by the end of next month,” Wong said, adding that telecoms could receive full subsidies for this year in second half of November.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to