Taiwan’s largest mobile operator, Chunghwa Telecom, plans to upgrade its 4G network in major cities using four-carrier aggregation, boosting peak downlink speeds to 500Mb/s.

The deployment will start in Taipei and at high-speed train stations in the north, and reach 20 metropolitan areas and 12 train stations by year-end, Taipei Times reported.

Chunghwa Telecom, with a 33 per cent market share, also plans to increase the number of 4G base stations by 40 per cent, with the new sites to be deployed mostly in urban areas.

The operator refarmed 1.8GHz spectrum for 4G service after recently shutting down its 2G network. In December it acquired 30MHz of spectrum in two blocks in the 2.4GHz to 2.5GHz band.

Chunghwa Telecom had 7.1 million 4G users at end-March, accounting for 69 per cent of its mobile subscribers, according to GSMA Intelligence.