The nation is to hold its first auction for the spectrum reserved for 5G services on Tuesday next week, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday, adding that a new mechanism would be used to accelerate the bidding process.
The nation’s five major telecoms — Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far Eastern Telecommunications, Asia-Pacific Telecom and Taiwan Star — have all qualified to participate in the auction, the commission said.
The commission has set the floor price at NT$30 billion (US$983.35 million), while the Executive Yuan has set a goal to receive NT$40 billion from the auction.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Lawmakers have forecast that the auction could generate at least NT$44 billion for the government.
The telecoms have expressed concern that that the longer the auction lasts, the higher the bids they would have to place, which would in turn would increase the costs of 5G services while they are still trying to offset the costs of 4G services.
Commission acting spokesman Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said that there is no way of forecasting how long the auction would last and whether the NT$44 billion goal could be reached.
Industry experts have estimated that the auction would last two weeks and generate about NT$40 billion.
Telecoms are to place a total of 10 bids every day in 20-minute intervals and they would indicate the spectrum width they require in each round, the commission said, adding that the firms would enter the next round of bidding when the amount of spectrum requested exceeds or equals the total amount of spectrum available.
The minimum bid increase would be set at 1.03 times the previous bid, it said.
The process is to continue until no bidders indicate their needs for additional spectrum in two consecutive rounds, it added.
The commission said that it has also created a mechanism to expedite the auction — the 51st and 101st bids are not allowed to request more spectrum than in the 50th and 100th bids respectively.
For example, if a firm’s 50th bid was for three frequency blocks in the 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) band, the next bid could request no more than those three blocks.
This mechanism would motivate telecoms to focus on the spectrum they need and bid quickly, the commission said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan yesterday said that it plans to reserve the frequency band between 4.8GHz and 4.9GHz for private corporations to conduct experiments of 5G applications, adding that fees would be charged for using the spectrum.
The plan is to be discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting today, Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said, adding that private business owners could start filing applications once the plan has been approved.
Generally, it would take them one to two years to test the technology and decide whether it could translate into a viable business model, Wu said.
The government would release about 200MHz near the 3.5GHz frequency band for companies that have succeeded in developing a viable 5G commercial model, Wu added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS