TAIPEI (WiMAX Day). The government of Taiwan (Executive Yuan) announced yesterday that it plans to award six licenses for WiMAX spectrum in June 2007. The licenses will be regional and split between the northern and southern parts of the country.

The announcement made by the National Communications Commission (NCC) indicates that the frequency band  2.5 ~ 2.69 GHz will be made available for use with WiMAX, and each of the six licenses will be accorded 30 Mhz each. The licenses will be valid for six years, and can be renewed for another six years upon expiry.

The licenses will be awarded in an open bidding process to qualified bidders. All bidders must first qualify to become a bidder, the criteria for which will be made available in March. The licensees will be required to pay an annual fee of 1.5%, with the minimum fee in the first year of US$600,000 and growing to US$1.2 million by the third year.