REGULATIONS ON INTERNA-TIONAL SUBMARINE CABLE LEASED-CIRCUIT BUSINESS

09/01/2000

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To facilitate the Executive Yuan's announcement on liberalization of international submarine cable leased-circuit business from July 2000, on 31 July 2000 the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) announced amend-ments to the Regulations Governing Fixed Network Telecommunications Businesses. The main changes are:

Definitions are added of international subma-rine cable systems, international submarine cable landing stations, inland interconnection gateway and back-haul facilities.

Provisions are added on the scope of leased-circuit business available to applicants. Leased-circuit business is divided into local leased-circuit business, domestic long-
distance land-line leased-circuit business and international submarine cable leased-circuit business.

The minimum paid-in capital for companies engaging in international submarine cable leased-circuit business is NT$800 million.

Provisions are added defining conditions for applicants to engage in international subma-rine cable leased-circuit business, and restric-tion on potential lessors.

At the time of application, an applicant must have obtained a license from an international submarine cable system owner or manager authorizing it to connect with and use its in-ternational submarine cable system, with a licensed bandwidth of at least 5 Gbps. Quali-fied international submarine cable systems are limited to those whose construction is com-pleted after 1 March 2000.

An applicant should within the period of va-lidity of its network construction permit con-struct a landing cable circuit and landing sta-tion in the ROC.

Inland interconnection gateways constructed by an international submarine cable leased-
circuit business operator should be limited to one per international submarine cable landing station, except where constructed at the same location as the landing station.

Back-haul facilities utilized by an interna-tional submarine cable leased-circuit business operator to connect a submarine cable landing station with an inland interconnection gateway should be leased from a consolidated network business operator or a local or domestic long-
distance land-line leased-circuit business op-erator. Where the parties are unable to reach agreement within three months after a leasing request, the international submarine cable leased-circuit business operator may construct the back-haul facilities itself after obtaining the approval from the Directorate-General of Telecommunications.

An international submarine cable leased-
circuit business operator may not utilize the back-haul facilities for any other business than international submarine cable leased-circuit business, and should lease circuits only to consolidated network business operators.

An applicant should deposit a performance bond of NT$80 million.

An establishment approval for international submarine cable leased-circuit business is valid for four years; a network construction permit is valid for three years; a concession license is valid for up to 15 years.