Taiwanese operator Chunghwa Telecom expects to end 2020 with over 4,000 5G stations across Taiwan, the company’s President and CFO, Shui-Yi Kuo, said during a conference call with investors.
“As of June 30, when we launched our 5G service more than 2,000 base stations covered all cities and counties in Taiwan. We provide 5G service on the 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz band,” the executive said.
“By the end of this year, we plan to complete more than 4,000 base stations to ensure 5G coverage in major metropolitan cities and the important transportation hubs along high-speed rail and the main lines,” Kuo said.
The operator was the first telco in Taiwan to receive a license for 5G services from the National Communications Commission (NCC). Chunghwa Telecom launched commercial 5G services in Taiwan based on the non-standalone (NSA) 5G architecture.
Chunghwa Telecom has spent NT$45.67 billion ($1.52 billion) for 90 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band and NT$618 million for 600 megahertz in the 28 GHz band.
“As the largest holder of 5G spectrum in Taiwan, we aim to offer to our customers quality 5G service offerings with cloud gaming, ultra HD video streaming and the VR or AR-related applications at the highest speed and low latency. We aim to acquire more than one million 5G subscribers over the next year,” the executive said.
The operator had selected Ericsson and Nokia as 5G RAN vendors. Ericsson said that will use the vendor’s Radio System base stations and Ericsson’s 5G core, including its 5G Evolved Packet Core.
Ericsson’s 5G platform for CHT includes Ericsson Radio System base stations that will operate on 3.5 GHz for the mid-band and 28 GHz for the high band. The 5G solution will also include active antenna products while supporting beam-forming functions that reduce wireless signal interference and improve 5G speed, the vendor said.
Ericsson added that its spectrum-sharing solution will allow Chunghwa Telecom to make full use of spectrum resources to accelerate 5G network coverage and promote the smooth transition of the network to 5G.
Meanwhile, Nokia said that it had been selected to leverage Chunghwa Telecom’s existing LTE install base and spectrum resources to launch 5G non-standalone (NSA) involving multiple bands, paving the way for the launch of 5G via a standalone architecture in the near future.
Rival operator Far EasTone (FET) initially launched its commercial 5G network in some metropolitan areas across Taiwan last month. FET said it aims to deploy a total of 4,000 5G base stations across Taiwan by the end of the year to provide coverage to nearly half of the population.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile expects to deploy 4,000 5G base stations by the end of this year, according to previous reports. Taiwan Mobile partnered with Nokia to launch its 5G network.
Also, Taiwan Star said that it plans to launch 5G services in the coming days, while Asia Pacific Telecom said its commercial 5G offering would begin by the end of the third quarter. These two telcos had obtain 5G licenses last week.
