Gov’t to Release Six 4G Licenses by 2013

Taipei, Nov. 7, 2011 (CENS)--The government plans to release six fourth-generation wireless communications licenses by 2013, two years ahead of the original schedule.

The government originally planned to release 4G licenses in July 2015 after retrieving the spectrums for 2G operations upon the expiration of the latter’s licenses in June 2015. The proposal to advance the schedule is designed to catch up with the development of South Korea, which has initiated 4G service.

The proposed 4G operations will utilize the spectrums of 700 MHz or 2.6GHz, in compliance with the international trend. 4G operations in the U.S., for instance, utilize 700 MHz. Accordingly, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has mapped out two options: one is 700 MHz which is now utilized by the military, and the other is the idle spectrums in the neighborhood of 2.6 GHz. The chosen spectrum will be released together with the spectrums of 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz, to be retrieved from 2G operations.

The 700 MHz is now used mainly for military training. The MOTC plans to discuss with the military to exchange the spectrum with other spectrum. Meanwhile, there are some 10-15 idled spectrums in the neighborhood of 2.6GHz available for use.

The National Communications Commission (NCC) will release the 4G licenses in 2013. It will take license winners around two years to construct base stations and new systems before commercial operation in 2015.

The government will embrace a neutral stance for the technology of 4G operations. However, according to international trend, 4G carriers will embrace LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology.