NCC outlines further details for December 2013 spectrum auction

Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) plans to offer a total of 270MHz of spectrum for auction in December 2013, Taiwan Today reports. Frequencies in the 700MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz bands are expected to be put up for grabs, although the regulator will not confirm the method of licence issuance, nor the auction format, until it had concluded a second public hearing on the matter next month. Nonetheless, the NCC has revealed that new upper and lower limits on bandwidth allocation are dependent on the number of bidders that take part in the sale process. The watchdog has said that if more than five bidders participate in the auction then the upper limit will be seven units (two blocks of 35MHz) per company, with that rising to eight and nine 10MHz units if there are only four or three bidders, respectively. Further, the NCC has also set down limitations on the transfer of concessions to third parties; such a move is understood to have been made with a view to preventing speculative bidding. Meanwhile, those companies wishing to take part in the auction, it has been confirmed, must have paid-in capital of at least TWD6 billion (USD206 million), while they will also be required to a TWD1 billion deposit.