Taiwanese regulator National Communications Commission (NCC) has given postive signals to allow WiMAX opertaors to upgrade LTE using allocated spectrum.

NCC believes LTE will not be commercially widespread until 2017. According to NCC it will take three years before the 700MHz spectrum - seen as the main vehicle for LTE in Taiwan - is reclaimed from the current military and police users. After that, it will take another two years to conclude the LTE licensing process, and another two years for commercial services to be built out.

The NCC has indicated that the four operators (Global Mobile, Tatung Telecom, FareasTone Telecom and VMAX) were awarded technology-neutral licences and may apply to alter their operational plans in order to adopt different mobile technologies including LTE, without infringing any requirement or consumer right.