The National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday it would recommend that the Executive Yuan allow the coexistence of time-division duplexing (TDD) and frequency-division duplexing (FDD) — two variants of the fourth-generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) telecom technologies — on a frequency band of 2.6 gigahertz (GHz), as it is in the best interests of the nation.
In Taiwan the 2.6GHz band is used mainly by service operators of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology. WiMAX was previously termed a 4G technology, but popularity waned worldwide after Intel pulled out of the project.
As the WiMAX service has failed to attract many users, the government plans to put the 2.6GHz frequency band up for auction again in a bid to further expand the bandwidth available to 4G service operators.
However, in an explanatory session held by the commission in March, the opinions of industry representatives varied as to whether the entire band should be devoted to the development of either TDD or FDD or both variants of the LTE technology simultaneously.
Both FDD and TDD technologies are able to coexist on the same 2.6GHz radio band.
The commission said it would propose this as the most effective solution to the Executive Yuan.
“After taking into consideration the opinions at the explanatory session, we think the option [coexistence] would best meet current needs in terms of global trends and the efficiency of radio frequency use,” the commission said in a statement.
The commission said some telecommunications operators would begin providing 4G services in June or July.
It also said the next round of bandwidth auctions were necessary in view of the rapid growth in the use of mobile communication devices and the increasing demand for more bandwidth.
The launch of a 4G service would accelerate the development in relevant sectors, including chip design and mobile phone applications, the commission added.
Based on a Ministry of Transportation and Communications plan, the coexistence of FDD and TDD could be achieved by sandwiching the TDD band between two FDD bands.
This practice is seen primarily in European countries, while the US, Japan and China use the 2.6GHz band exclusively for the TDD-LTE technology, which is another one of the options proposed by the ministry.
Should the government allow the coexistence of FDD and TDD technologies in the frequency band, the ministry said that 10 megahertz (MHz) of guard bands would be required to avoid interference between the two systems.
Another consideration is that part of the FDD band could be susceptible to interference from a Japanese satellite system. Under these circumstances, only 140MHz in the band would be available, the ministry said.
If the government chooses to follow the US, Japan and China in this regard, it risks making Taiwan’s system incompatible with the one used Europe.
However, the 2.6GHz band would potentially be used more efficiently because there would be no need for buffer zones between the two different technologies.
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