Taiwanese government aims to award six new blocks of spectrum year-end
Taiwanese telecom regulator NCC has set the floor price for the second auction of 4G spectrum at NT$14.4 billion ($460.4 million). The watchdog said it expects to complete the whole auction process by the end of 2015.
According to a report by The China Post, the NCC will award spectrum in the 2.5 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands and will accept applications from interested operators until Sept. 4. This new spectrum will enable local carriers to launch TD-LTE and FDD-LTE in 2016.
The regulator plans to award a total of six licenses. The six blocks of mobile spectrum have starting prices between NT$700 million and NT$3.7 billion. According to the regulator, the auction will raise between NT$15 billion and NT$30 billion.
In 2013, the 4G auction raised NT$118.6 billion, which represented approximately 2.3 times the reserve price.
According to the reports, five mobile companies and some WiMax operators will participate in the spectrum auction. The NCC suggests that the bidding process will become intense, since local mobile companies are already running out of 4G spectrum.
Local operators currently offering LTE services include Ambit, APT, Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone, Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star Telecom. Taiwan currently has approximately 5 million 4G LTE subscribers. Tech consultancy firm IDC Taiwan senior market analyst Andy Ye previously told RCR Wireless News that Taiwan will end 2015 with 10 million LTE subscribers.
SEATEL officially launches LTE network in Cambodia
South East Asia Telecom has launched a 4G LTE network in the Cambodian market. The network infrastructure was deployed by Chinese vendor ZTE.
The service is currently available in 17 provinces across the country. Seatel aims to cover the remaining provinces by the end of the year.
Seatel was established in 2014 in Singapore. The operator’s subsidiary in Cambodia has licenses to offer 4G LTE and other services including broadband, wireless fixed-line and voice over IP. Earlier this year, the operator announced plans to invest $400 million over the next two to three years to deploy its 4G LTE network across Cambodia, and has already invested nearly $100 million in the Asian nation.
