Taiwan has cut two years from its 4G auction schedule, and now plans to commence the process by 2013.
The Taiwanese government will auction off six 4G licenses, with an eye to allowing LTE services to launch by 2015, CENS reported.
The allocations will be in either the 700-MHz or 2.6-GHz bands, and will be released together with 900MHz and 1.8GHz spectrum retrieved from existing 2G allocations.
While there are several blocks of 2.6-GHz spectrum available, the 700-MHz band is currently allocated to the military, so the ministry would need to reach an agreement to replace the spectrum.
While the ministry will take a technology-neutral approach to 4G, operators are widely expected to follow their global peers in adopting the LTE standard, leading some commentators to suggest the sped-up schedule represents Taiwan giving up on Wimax.
Earlier this year, the GSMA published a report encouraging the government to abandon its emphasis on Wimax manufacturing, and instead offer the support it provides for Wimax vendors to those wishing to develop LTE equipment.