The C5 block in the 1,800MHz spectrum continued to be the favorite on the second day of bidding for 4G telecom service licenses, with tender amounts topping NT$5.48 billion (US$184 million).
The National Communications Commission’s (NCC) auction has seven bidders contesting 10 frequency blocks in the 700MHz, 900MHz and 1,800MHz spectrums, namely Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone Telecommunication (FET), Ambit Microsystems Corp of Hon Hai Group, Asia Pacific Telecom and two management teams backed by Ting Hsin International Group and Shinkong Group.
The starting price for the C5 block, which contains 15MHz, was set at NT$3 billion, but shot up to NT$5.48 billion on the second day of the auction. It was also the only frequency block whose bidding price has gone up at each round.
The bidding price for the A4 frequency block in the 700MHz spectrum, the B3 block in 900MHz and the C1 to C4 blocks in the 1,800MHz spectrum remained unchanged
The A1, A2 and A3 blocks in the 700MHz spectrum as well as the B1 and B2 blocks in the 900MHz spectrum have yet to attract bids.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the battle over the C5 block was fierce because no carrier uses it at the moment, adding that the commission would reduce the percentage of increase in the bidding price at the end of each round to ensure that bidding does not overheat.
“Because of the cap of 35MHz, we can only speculate that bidders will compete for the most desirable blocks first. Everyone seems to be focusing on frequency blocks in the 1,800MHz spectrum because there is already telecommunications equipment for 4G service,” Yu said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS