Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) has formalized a new policy allowing mobile service provider providing fourth generation Long Term Evolution services to share their core networks, provided they first get official approval.
The issue arose because Asia Pacific Telecom bought services from Taiwan Mobile as part of a roaming agreement, the Taipei Times reported. The issue appeared unclear since Asia Pacific Telecom actually was more of a wholesale customer of Taiwan Mobile.
In fact, the new rules require that any 4G providers using another carrier’s resources must also have at least some facilities of its own.
Even though the commission has decided to allow 4G operators to share the use of a core network, this does not mean that one carrier can simply use another carrier’s network without building or using its own network at all, Yu said.
“The carrier that wants to use a network built by another and the telecom firm that allows a second carrier to use its network must first apply for changes in their business plans, which must be approved by the commission before they can share a network,” said commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng.
Carriers applying for permission to lease their core networks to other carriers must meet several additional criteria before they are allowed to do so, including building at least 1,000 base stations and creating coverage areas of greater than 50 percent.
The sharing also is viewed as a temporary mechanism, as the NCC still expects mobile operators to gradually build out its own facilities, and reduce reliance on wholesale.
The new rules are a bit of a twist on spectrum sharing. In Taiwan, such rules really pertain to wholesale leasing of capacity, more than permanent spectrum sharing.
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