02 November 2006

Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) on November 1 approved a proposal by Sparq, a local fixed-line telecommunications network operator, to operate E.164-format VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services, making Sparq the first company to obtain such permission in Taiwan.

NCC announced its plan to release E.164 VoIP numbers and related policies and regulations in November 2005, and Sparq submitted an application along with an operation proposal in June of this year, according to Sparq. In addition to Sparq, Chunghwa Telecom is currently the only operator of fixed-line communication services that has applied for E.164 VoIP operations.