Taiwan may assign 700MHz band for LTE operation

Viewing that LTE (Long Term Evolution) is developing toward a global mainstream 4G standard for mobile communications, the Taiwan government is likely to assign the frequency band between 698MHz and 806MHz - the so-called 700MHz band section - for LTE operation in the future, industry sources quoted officials of the National Communications Commission (NCC) as indicating.

A large portion of the frequency band has been in use by military and police organizations for a long time and it will take about three years for them to shift to other bands and make way for LTE operation, the sources said.

Then, the government will take one to two years to release LTE licenses and licensees will need two more years to construct infrastructure, with LTE operation possibly beginning in 2016, the sources said.

As the development of 4G technologies tends toward convergence of LTE and WiMAX, the six WiMAX operators in Taiwan may step also into LTE operation, the sources said.