Telecoms would be asked to brief the National Communications Commission (NCC) on the steps they would take to shut down 3G voice communications services ahead of schedule, the regulator said yesterday.
Although 3G licenses expired in 2018, telecoms have maintained the voice communication system as they migrated to the voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) system.
The 3G system transmits voice and data services separately, while VoLTE technology can transmit both simultaneously.
Photo: Taipei Times
Since 2020, smartphones with specifications certified by the NCC have all been equipped with VoLTE, it said.
Shutting down the 3G system is the trend in the telecommunications industry and would help make spectrum use more efficient, lower costs, reduce energy use and cut carbon emissions, NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
“This was the first time that we tried to address the issue at the weekly commissioners’ meeting,” Wong said. “Commissioners were concerned with several aspects of the issue, from the penetration rates of VoLTE-equipped mobile phones to access to emergency communications by elderly people and those in remote areas.”
Although most people communicate via Line or other apps, the penetration rate of VoLTE-equipped phones is between 70 and 85 percent, he said.
“Telecoms have indicated they are planning to terminate 3G voice communication services, but we are concerned about access to the 110, 119 emergency services and other vital links for elderly people and those in remote area,” he said. “We would ask telecoms to brief us on how they would protect disadvantaged people, including incentives they would offer to switch to VoLTE-equipped mobile phones.”
There was also concern among officials that people with VoLTE-equipped phones would not receive warnings when they get possible scam calls, Wong said.
“Fortunately, Far EasTone Telecommunications [FET] has set up a similar mechanism for the VoLTE system. We hope that Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile would follow suit,” he said.
Angus Yang (楊騰達), senior director of FET’s Network Technologies and Operations Department, said that people using its mobile communications services have been receiving the scam warning since October last year.
“We realized then that there might be a window when we shut down 3G voice communication services, so we made sure that VoLTE users can hear the warnings for scam calls,” Yang said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS