Taiwan’s telecom regulator, the National Communications Commission (NCC), awarded six WiMAX licenses in the 2.5 ~ 2.69 MHz frequency range in July 2007 to FITEL, Global Mobile and VMAX Telecom (in the north) and Far EasTone Telecommunications, Vee Telecom and Tatung (in the south). No licenses were awarded to Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile, Taiwan’s largest telecommunications operators. The national regulator received 13 applications for the six WiMAX licenses it offered, and bidding was based on the percentage of WiMAX revenue license holders would pass to the government. The minimum bid was set at 1.5% of annual revenue. The table below shows the WiMAX spectrum and license fee details of various WiMAX operators in Taiwan.

4G WiMAX Spectrum Details- Taiwan

Source: 4Gcounts.com

Taiwanese WiMAX operators have been grappling with the WiMAX commercial service launch issues for quite some time, which is a major concern for the Taiwanese government since the delay has also affected its M-Taiwan program. The WiMAX market should have already reached maturity in Taiwan, but this has not been the case. Only a single WiMAX license holder, Tatung InfoComm, has launched commercial WiMAX service, in July 2009, around the time UQ Communications launched its service in Japan. The other five Taiwanese license holders are expected to launch commercial WiMAX services by late 2009/early 2010.

The global economic recession has taken a bite out of some license holders’ plans to roll out WiMAX. However, the government is backing WiMAX and has played a major role in its development so far – it certainly does not want to see WiMAX fail considering it has earmarked approximately US$200 million to push its Mobile Taiwan (M-Taiwan) program, which aims at greater WiMAX coverage throughout the island. When the Taiwanese government issued six regional WiMAX licenses in the second half of 2007, it hoped licensees could set up infrastructure and kick off operations within two years. The government was then looking to issue at least one nationwide WiMAX license in the second half of 2009. However, as five WiMAX license holders are lagging behind and LTE is starting to get more attention worldwide, it is highly unlikely that the government will do so this year.

There is no official word about the release date of LTE spectrum in Taiwan, but that has not stopped operators from jumping on the LTE bandwagon. Chunghwa Telecom is planning to roll out an LTE network in 2011, and will start LTE trials by the end of this year, according to the company’s spokesperson.

Ssome WiMAX licensees in Taiwan who have started to consider LTE seriously. FITEL, for example, is studying the possibility of deploying LTE in future. It has included LTE migration in its network development plan, but its priority remains WiMAX. FITEL believes that it can generate profit from healthy WiMAX subscriber base once it has matured, and further, that a solid  WiMAX business model should be in place before LTE is launched. It also expects that WiMAX can be migrated to TDD-LTE, and will bea good complementary technology for HSPA now, and FDD-LTE in future.  Tatung Infocomm is also prepared to adopt LTE, and is working with is Alcatel-Lucent. According to Tatung Infomm president Peter Yen, the operator has made sure that the platform it is using now will be able to upgrade to LTE when it arrives in Taiwan.

Even if some Taiwanese WiMAX license holders have started to focus on LTE, the fact is that none have yet submitted an application to switch to LTE service. The Taiwnese regulator has stated that it will have to consult with other government agencies before allowing WiMAX licensees to migrate to LTE, since some licensees have received government subsidies to set up their WiMAX networks. Until then, WiMAX can until then enjoy its early market entry advantage.

WiMAX in Taiwan is expected to receive a boost through roaming in the coming months. National roaming is a particularly pressing issue in Taiwan. The six WiMAX license holders have  started working towards a national roaming agreement to ensure they have full coverage of the island; they will be following up this initiative with international roaming. Tatung Infocomm revealed to Maravedis that it would like to see other WiMAX operators move faster in their launches to improve overall service coverage, so its subscribers can roam anywhere in Taiwan without losing service.

Please Note:
We are in the process of creating a “Country Profile” section in 4GCounts.com, where you will be able to find more details about 4G in Taiwan.

For more information you can contact the author at basharat@maravedis-bwa.com

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No reproduction without consent.



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