The first phase of the nation’s first 5G auction ended yesterday after 27 days and 261 rounds of bidding, with the total bids topping NT$138.08 billion (US$4.61 billion), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said.
The amount, which was about 4.6 times more than the floor price, was the world’s third-highest, the commission said.
Italy raised 6.55 billion euros (US$7.31 billion) in its first 5G auction in 2018 and Germany obtained 6.5 billion euros in its auction last year, it said.
Photo: AP
The frequency bands on auction were 1.8 gigahertz (GHz), 3.5GHz and 28GHz.
However, all of the telecoms targeted the 3.5GHz frequency band, of which a total of 270 megahertz (MHz) of bandwidth was placed on auction. The floor price for bandwidth in the 3.5GHz band was NT$24.3 billion.
Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) secured 90MHz of bandwidth in the 3.5GHz band, followed by Far EasTone Telecommunications (遠傳電信) with 80MHz. Taiwan Mobile (台灣大哥大), Taiwan’s second-largest telecom, only secured 60MHz of bandwidth in the band and Taiwan Star Telecom (台灣之星) obtained 40MHz.
Asia Pacific Telecom (亞太電信) yesterday withdrew its bid for bandwidth in the band.
Bids for 3.5GHz bandwidth totaled NT$136.43 billion.
There was a total of 2.5GHz of bandwidth available in the 28GHz frequency band, but carriers only bid for 1.6GHz.
Chunghwa Telecom secured 600MHz and Taiwan Mobile obtained 200MHz, while Far EasTone and Asia Pacific Telecom garnered 400MHz each. Taiwan Star did not bid for the bandwidth in this frequency band.
Bids for bandwidth in the 28GHz frequency band totaled NT$1.65 billion.
The 1.8GHz frequency band failed to attract any bids, the commission said.
All five carriers are to participate in the second phase of the auction on Feb. 21, when they would negotiate for their preferred portions of the frequency bands in the morning, it said.
Should they fail to reach an agreement, they would enter one final round of bidding in the afternoon before the auction is concluded, it added.
The bids far exceeded the projected goals set by the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan of NT$40 billion and NT$44 billion respectively, NCC Acting Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said.
However, the government has administrative measures to ensure that consumers enjoy “high-quality and affordable” 5G services, he said.
The Cabinet would hold an interdepartmental meeting to discuss the distribution of the excess proceeds from the auction, such as upgrading telecom infrastructure and developing innovative services, he added.
Asked about Asia Pacific Telecom withdrawing its bid for 3.5GHz bandwidth, which allowed the first phase to end yesterday, Chen said that the commission respects the company’s decisions, adding that telecoms would be able to flexibly form partnerships with each other after the agency starts enforcing the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法) in July.
The act, which was promulgated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in June last year, only states the principle that resources should be used efficiently and that there is fair competition in the telecom service market, NCC Department of Platforms and Businesses Director Wang De-wei (王德威) said.
Under this principle, telecoms are allowed to share their frequency spectrum or lease it from other carriers, Wang said, adding that they must first indicate such details in their business plans.
After the auction is concluded next month, telecoms that secure 5G frequency spectrum can choose to make a one-time payment for their bids or pay in installments over five years, the commission said, adding that they would be allowed to start offering 5G services only after their business plans and service networks receive its approval.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS