Page 87 - SAMENA Trends - December 2023

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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