The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the government would release the 2,500MHz and 2,600MHz frequency bands for 4G telecom service use, adding that the auction of these two bands is scheduled to take place at the end of the third quarter this year.
NCC Chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) said that the commission would hold an information session next month, in which the commission’s officials would explain the rules of the auction and other relevant matters in detail, and hear thoughts and ideas from interested carriers.
As some of the frequency blocks are currently being used by WiMAX service operators, Shyr said that the WiMAX carriers could continue to use these frequencies if their licenses are renewed, allowing them to use the spectrum for another six years. The 4G operators acquiring frequencies in the spectrum currently used by WiMAX operators could gain access if the two parties negotiate a deal, he said.
Shyr said that First International Telecom and Far EasTone Telecommunications have both terminated WiMAX offerings and returned portions of the spectrum they used to the government, adding that Tatung Infocomm’s WiMAX license renewal had already been turned down by the NCC. The commission plans to review the license renewal applications from three other WiMAX operators this year — Global Mobile, VMAX and VeeTim.
Based on the commission’s preliminary plan, the two stated frequency bands have 190MHz in bandwidth that would be placed on auction. Within that spectrum, 50MHz would be reserved for use by time division-long term evolution (TD-LTE) technology, whereas the remaining 140MHz would be used for the development of TD-LTE or frequency division-long term evolution (FD-LTE) technology.
To avoid interference between these two technologies, telecoms acquiring TD-LTE bandwidth must give up 10MHz to be used as guard bands.
TD-LTE and FD-LTE are the two main technologies used to offer 4G services.
Asked whether the development of TD-LTE would generate national security concerns, as China has been pushing the use of such technology and is the main supplier of related equipment, Shyr said that the plan to release the frequency bands has been reviewed by the nation’s national security agencies, which have not changed their standards.
Shyr said, current 4G service providers can acquire these bandwidths to enlarge their capacity in a bid to meet dramatically increasing demand for data transmission.
He also said that the commission would set a lock-up period, which would require telecom carriers to fulfill their service commitments before they can be allowed to merge their operations.
In response to some telecom carriers’ claims that they do not need additional bandwidth to offer 4G services, Shyr said that the commission would this year begin testing the transmission speeds of 4G services offered by different carriers, and that the test results would be disclosed to the public periodically.
Carriers do not have to bid for additional bandwidth if they do not need them, he said.
Taiwan began to release frequency bands for 4G operation last year, in which three frequency bands — 700MHz, 900MHz and 1,800 MHz — were placed on public auction.
Six telecom carriers garnered a total bandwidth of 270 MHz within these three bands — Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone, Asia Pacific Telecom, Ambit Microsystems Corp and Taiwan Star. The merger of Asia Pacific and Ambit, which occurred soon after the auction, has yet to be approved by the NCC.
The government received NT$118.6 billion (US$3.8 billion) from the auction last year, three times higher than the floor price. This year, the government has set the income from the auction to be at least NT$25 billion.
Telecoms offering 4G service began LTE operations at the end of May last year, the administration said, adding that 4G service subscribers have grown to a total of 4.02 million as of last month.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS