Page 87 - SAMENA Trends - December 2023
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REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES  SAMENA TRENDS

        Europe Agrees Landmark Draft AI Legislation


        European Union (EU) lawmakers reached a provisional agreement   will  also  be  prohibited,  with  “narrow exceptions”  for policing
        on draft legislation to govern the use of AI, with authorities set to   public spaces. The  EC noted  there would  be “additional  binding
        finalize the details in the coming weeks.  The European Council   obligations”  for  the  most-powerful  general  purpose  AI  models
        stated it had agreed with the European Parliament and the European   “that could pose systemic risks”. Fine Various levels of financial
        Commission  (EC)  on  the  landmark  draft  AI  Act  following  three-  penalties are planned for companies which fail to comply with the
        days of negotiation aimed at ensuring systems used in the bloc   proposed rules: €35 million or 7 per cent of global annual revenue
        adhere to fundamental human rights.  It stated the rules would not   “for violations  of banned  AI applications”;  €15  million  or 3  per
        apply to AI deployments in military and defence, research and non-  cent for breaching “other obligations”; and €7.5 million or 1.5 per
        professional applications by consumers.  The authorities settled   cent “for supplying incorrect information”. The authority pledged
        on a format whereby AI systems would be classified as being of   “more  proportionate”  caps  for  SMEs  and  start-ups  technology
        minimal, high or unacceptable risk. Technologies including spam   industry group Digital Europe maintained previous criticism of the
        filters or intelligent recommendations will be classed as minimal   plan, stating Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, director general of technology
        risk, while AI used in critical infrastructure; medical devices; work   industry group DigitalEurope, maintained the organization’s critical
        or educational  institutions;  border control; and  administration   line on the draft, asking “at what cost” the agreement came. She
        of justice and law enforcement are rated high-risk.   AI systems   argued the proposal would “take a lot of resources for companies
        considered “a clear threat” to the public’s fundamental rights will   to comply with, resources that will be spent on lawyers instead of
        be banned under “unacceptable risks”, including systems allowing   hiring AI engineers”.  The law is unlikely to come into force until at
        predictive  policing,  social  scoring  and  manipulation  of human   least 2025.
        behavior.  Some  uses  of  biometric  identification  or  monitoring



        Taiwan Mobile, Taiwan Star Conclude Long-Running Merger



                                                               The long-running merger between Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star
                                                               closed  on 1  December 2023,  with  Taiwan  Mobile  the  surviving
                                                               entity and Taiwan Star now dissolved. Via the deal – which was
                                                               first agreed on 30 December 2021 – Taiwan Mobile has inherited
                                                               more  than  2.5  million  mobile subscriptions  and  gained  access
                                                               to Taiwan Star’s spectrum holdings in the 900MHz, 2.6GHz and
                                                               3.5GHz bands. The enlarged entity will serve more than ten million
                                                               mobile subscriptions and occupy second place in the Taiwanese
                                                               mobile market.



        5G SALE Act Cleared by House Energy and Commerce Committee



        The 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement (5G SALE) Act
        was  passed  unanimously  by  the  House  Energy  and  Commerce
        Committee on Tuesday 5 December and will now be considered
        by the House of Representatives. If approved by the House, the
        legislation would grant the Federal Communications Commission
        (FCC) a one-time, temporary authority to issue licenses purchased
        in auctions that were held before 9 March 2023 (i.e. when the FCC’s
        spectrum auction authority was allowed to lapse). Controversially,
        in  March the  US  Senate  allowed  the  FCC’s  spectrum auction
        authority to lapse for the first time since 1994. A bill that would
        have extended the regulator’s spectrum authority to 19 May was   August 2022 after 73 rounds of bidding. Participating companies
        passed  by  the  lower house  but  objections  in  the  Senate  (upper   successfully  bid  on  7,872  2.5GHz  licenses,  generating  gross
        house) delayed the legislation, resulting in the lapse. To date, the   proceeds  of  USD427.790  million.  T-Mobile  US  secured  the  bulk
        FCC has held more than 100 auctions and has raised more than   of  the  available  licenses,  bidding  USD304.325  million  for  7,156
        USD233  billion  in  revenues.  Auction  108  drew  to  a  close  on  29   regional concessions.


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