Taiwan’s Regulator Consults on 5G Spectrum

Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) has defended a cap on the amount of bandwidth that operators will be able to acquire in its forthcoming auction of 5G-suitable spectrum, notes TeleGeography. According to the Taipei Times a discussion regarding the upcoming frequency sale was held involving representatives of the country’s telecoms providers.

At this meeting the NCC is reported to have said that its plans for a per-operator cap of 100 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band is designed to ensure fair competition. “However, Taiwan Star representative Wang Chun-yi was said to have told the hearing that the bandwidth cap for the 3.5 GHz band should be lowered – to between 70 MHz and 80 MHz – arguing that this would be the only way to guarantee there being four operators in the market. The executive suggested that, even though network and spectrum sharing is encouraged by the NCC, none of the larger providers are likely to consider working with a smaller operator if it has less than 40 MHz of 5G-suitable spectrum.”

With the Taiwanese authorities expected to offer up a total of 2,790 MHz in the auction, across the 1800 MHz (20 MHz), 3.5 GHz (270 MHz) and 28 GHz (2,500 MHz) bands, the meeting also explored a number of other areas. Among these, Hsiao Ching-teng, the representative for Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET), was said to have expressed an interest in the NCC limiting the funds raised through the auction of the blocks in the 28 GHz frequency band to a “reasonable” amount, due to the fact that technology and equipment for this band has yet to mature.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that NCC spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung had confirmed the commission had agreed to consider lowering the frequency usage fees to facilitate partnerships between operators and 5G vertical application developers. In latest news, Light Reading reports that the NCC has stipulated that 5G operators should share spectrum, networks and construction. “The changes follow some pushback by local operators, which had asked for more flexibility, such as the ability to form sharing arrangements at the base station level and not just for the entirety of the network. Sharing is mandated by the new Telecommunications Management Act, but it requires the NCC and the operators to agree on the details.” See more and here.