TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan will hold Asia’s first third-generation license auction after seven companies showed interest in five licenses. Seven consortia will begin the bidding process in January, with licenses expected to be awarded by the end of the month.
Minimum bids range from $120 million to $220 million depending on the amount of spectrum available, and the prices are not expected to be much higher.
Incumbent operators Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone, KG Telecom, Taiwan Cellular and Fitel through the 3GO consortium submitted applications to participate in the auction, along with two firms without current cellular networks. Taiwan has a mobile penetration rate of more than 90 percent, and consolidation is expected.
Hong Kong scrapped an auction after it received only four bids for four licenses. Japan and Korea awarded their 3G licenses through a “beauty contest” process.
