- Artist : Mr. Chau-yih Yu
On May 4 2015 the Ministry of Transportation and Communications released its spectrum provision plan for 2015 and beyond, based on the public consultation in September 2014. The ministry has updated its analysis of existing spectrum use and a plan for future use is in consideration.
Spectrum use plan
2015
Overall planning on the band for use of wireless broadband access services and its adjacent band (2,500 megahertz (MHz) to 2,690MHz – a total of 190MHz) will be conducted and released by the end of 2015.
2016
The plan for 2016 is summarised as follows:
- 1,770MHz to 1,785MHz and 1,865MHz to 1,880MHz, together with 1,880MHz to 1,920MHz used by digital low-tier wireless phone and the spectrum used by third-generation (3G) mobile communication (825MHz to 840MHz, 870MHz to 885MHz, 1,920MHz to 1,980MHz and 2,110MHz to 2,170MHz – a total of 220MHz) will be further released.
- 1,770MHz to 1,785MHz and 1,865MHz to 1,880MHz will be released for long-term evolution (LTE) and frequency division duplex (FDD) (third-generation partnership project (3GPP) Band 3) in mobile broadband network business.
- 825MHz to 840MHz and 870MHz to 890MHz will be released. The ministry prefers LTE-FDD and plans for either 815MHz to 835MHz (uplink) and 860MHz to 880MHz (downlink) (3GPP Band 26) or 806MHz to 821MHz (uplink), 847MHz to 862MHz (uplink) (3GPP Band 20).
- 1,880MHz to 1,920MHz and 1,920MHz to 1,980MHz and 110MHz to 2,170MHz will be released. The ministry considers LTE-time division duplex (TDD) (3GPP Band 39) and LTE-FDD (3GPP Band 1) for mobile broadband network business, but noted that China Mobile is the sole mobile network operator in Band 39 among most countries.
2017 and beyond
The plan for 2017 is summarised below:
- 608MHz to 698MHz will be released. The ministry intends to monitor and follow the measure to be taken by the US Federal Communications Commission for further planning.
- 2,010MHz to 2,025MHz will be released. The ministry is looking forward to LTE-TDD (3GPP Band 34) for mobile broadband network business. However, the lack of available equipment and business launch at global level has been noted.
- 2,300MHz to 2,400MHz will be released. Given the fact that there are a total of 21 business networks planned by LTE-TDD (3GPP Band 40) and supported by 696 user devices across the world, the ministry believes that it should be available for incumbents subject to further coordination in Taiwan.
- 3,400MHz to 3800MHz will be released. LTE-FDD (3GPP Band 22) or LTE-TDD (3GPP Band 42) should be applicable for 3,400MHz to 3,600MHz, while LTE-TDD (3GPP Band 43) is applicable for 3,600MHz to 3800MHz. A plan is pending for future International Telecommunication Union decisions, such as WRC-15.
Comment
The plan is subject to the ministry’s annual review and amendments. The National Communications Commission will implement the plan by issuing new regulations.
The ministry has indicated in its spectrum provision plan that it will continue to monitor the development of global spectrum sharing mechanism (eg, TV White Space), supplemental downlink and LTE in unlicensed spectrum or releasing bands for unlicensed spectrum use (eg, 60 gigahertz) and it will evaluate the feasibility of acquiring for domestic use.
The materials contained on this website are for general information purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer.
