The Development of Mobile Communications in Taiwan

Status of mobile market

With the wide range of mobile broadband application services being driven forward with the ubiquity of smart phones and tablets, people continually require more bandwidth and higher speeds to meet their needs.

With view to ensuring a sound mobile communications environment, facilitating high-speed, high-quality and diverse telecommunications services, NCC, on October 30, 2013, released 270MHz of bandwidth in the 700 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz bands.

This release ushered in a new milestone in the development of telecommunications services in Taiwan, and from the end of May 2014, operators began providing 4G services.

Moving forward to the end of September 2015, the number of 4G subscribers in Taiwan had already reached 9.33 million and has show explosive growth since then..

Spectrum plan

In this light, we can clearly see demand for bandwidth increasing in the future. According to estimates from the ITU, demand for mobile broadband bandwidth in each country is expected to reach around 1000MHz by 2020. In response, NCC plans to continuously release mobile broadband spectrum. Currently, 540MHz of bandwidth has been planned. Nearer the end of 2015, the 2500MHz and 2600MHz bands will be released to enable mobile broadband operators to promote high-speed mobile network bandwidth and to satisfy the public’s demands.

Policies for better 4G services

With the objective of enabling the public to enjoy ubiquitous high quality mobile broadband services, deployment of the 4G network infrastructure will be accelerated while the public’s awareness of its benefits will be enhanced. Promotional policies include:

• inter-ministerial awareness campaigns concerning electromagnetic waves;
• continual promotion of the co-location of mobile communications platforms;
• release of public land for base stations;
• establishment of next generation electric wave monitoring system, and;
• continual spectrum planning for the future.

Moreover, while assisting the industry to promote the development of mobile broadband service, NCC endeavors to facilitate a secure environment so as to ensure security is strengthened, as well as economic development. Promotional policies include:

• improving the general quality of 4G network services;
• strengthening cyber security inspection and authentication mechanisms;
• enhancing the public’s understanding of electromagnetic waves and building sustainable environments;
• reinforcing services for the minorities, those in remote or offshore-island areas, and;
• establishing an effective mobile broadband network disaster prevention notification and response system.