The government on Wednesday morning sold a batch of radio licenses in a draw and an auction after almost 18 years of planning, with the highest bidder for a regional radio license paying more than NT$250 million (US$8.16 million).
Five regional radio licenses and 10 community radio licenses have been released, National Communications Commission (NCC) spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The commission had planned to release 11 community radio licenses, but the license for Lienchiang County failed to attract any bidders, Wong said.
As regional radio licenses have greater commercial value than community radio licenses, people interested in obtaining a regional license must do so at an auction, while those interested in getting community radio licenses attend a draw, Wong said.
Prior to Wednesday, the commission had entrusted an independent committee with reviewing the qualifications and business proposals of the contenders before it finalized a list of candidates — 14 for regional radio licenses and 158 for community radio licenses — to enter the auction or the draw.
Five regional licenses cover Keelung and New Taipei City at 107.1 megahertz (MHz), Taipei and New Taipei City (102.5MHz), Taoyuan (101.1MHz), Hsinchu (98.7MHz) and Kinmen (106.3MHz).
The floor price for each regional license was calculated based on the region’s population, radio coverage rate, economy and other factors, the commission said.
The radio license for Taipei and New Taipei City had the highest floor price at NT$38.35 million, while Kinmen had the lowest, NT$9.97 million.
Floor prices for Keelung and New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu were NT$19.15 million, NT$20.53 million and NT$18.44 million respectively.
Bids for the five regional licenses sold were much higher than their floor prices.
The highest bid was for the license for Taipei and New Taipei City, at NT$251.6 million, followed by Taoyuan (NT$211.6 million), Keelung and New Taipei City (NT$161.6 million), Hsinchu (NT$70.1 million) and Kinmen (NT$45.6 million).
Overall, the auction generated NT$740.5 million, the commission said.
“The bids have exceeded our estimates,” said Taiwan Broadcasting chief executive officer Ma Chang-sheng (馬長生), who commented on the results in an interview with the Taipei Times.
Ma was previously chairman of the Commercial Radio Broadcasting Association.
“We can only guess that those who bought a regional radio license represent big corporations, radio operators or those who have been waiting for this opportunity for years,” he said.
Some of the bids were eight to 10 times higher than the floor prices, he said, adding that expectations were to see bid prices only three times higher.
The bidder who secured the Taipei and New Taipei City license paid more than NT$200 million for it, which in the past was about the amount paid for a national broadcast license, Ma said, adding that how or how soon radio operators could redeem the cost was unknown.
Asked how the sales would affect the radio industry, Ma said the results might boost the self-confidence of radio station personnel, as they might underestimate their value.
The auction might have inadvertently raised the value of the radio industry, but whether it would spark innovative business models or generate radio programs remains to be seen, Ma said.
Some industry analysts said that the bids were high because of uncertainty over when the government would release more licenses.
Operators securing regional licenses are obliged to pay the bid price in full within three months and must establish radio networks within three years, the commission said.
Radio operators must apply to renew their license after nine years, the commission said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it