WiMAX goalposts move in Taiwan

Taiwan's WiMAX landscape is in flux. Chunghwa Telecom, the island's incumbent (which failed to get its hands on of the six WIMAX licences up for grabs in 2007) appears to have been given the green light to invest in Global Mobile, a WiMAX licensee.

The NCC (National Communications Commission) had previously barred Chunghwa from investing in Global Mobile on the grounds that the island's incumbent had not been mentioned when Global Mobile had first applied for its WiMAX licence. The NCC's appeals committee has now overturned that ruling.

Moreover, HwaCom, a systems integrator that also failed in its bid for a WIMAX licence last year, could now be in line for a WiMAX licence after all. The Petitions and Appeals Committee of Taiwan's Executive Yuan has revoked a previous NCC decision that disqualified HwaCom Systems from applying for a WiMAX licence in Taiwan. The appeals committee has now asked the NCC "to review and properly deal with the case" within a period of two months.

HwaCom was one of five applicants out of ten that received a score below the 75-point bottom limit for proposals, which meant it couldn't take part in the bidding process for one of the three WiMAX licenses available in the southern region of the island.

The systems integrator subsequently submitted an appeal, as its initial bid was higher than some of the applicants who qualified to take part in the WiMAX bidding process.

With regard the potential participation of Chunghwa in Taiwan's WiMAX market, some industry observers believe it could have both advantages and disadvantages. Jason Lin, a professor at National Chiao Tung University, quoted in a local newspaper report, says: "If the ruling actually motivates Chunghwa to speed up the development of WiMAX services, then it will help the industry. The bad news is that the move will likely put tremendous pressure on other telecom operators and could limit their growth."

Chunghwa's investment in Global Mobile is not allowed to exceed 15 percent of the firm's capital. Global Mobile has yet to launch commercial WiMAX services.

Resource - WiMAX Vision