Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunication has returned 17.5MHz of 2G spectrum in the 1.8GHz band and has been reassigned 8.7MHz of the same airwaves to offer 4G services.

The country’s telecoms regulator accepted the operator’s application to return the 2G frequency and reallocated the 4G spectrum, Taipei Times reported.

The National Communications Commission (NCC) said the remaining spectrum will be reallocated to rival operators Taiwan Mobile (6.3MHz) and Chunghwa Telecom (2.5MHz ). After the returned spectrum is reassigned, Far EasTone will have 13.8MHz in the 1.8MHz band, Chunghwa Telecom 17.5MHz and Taiwan Mobile 11.3MHz.

Far EasTone is the country’s third largest mobile player with almost a 23 per cent market share (slightly behind Taiwan Mobile).

Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile said it has received approval from the NCC to use the 5MHz of 700MHz spectrum it purchased from Ambit Microsystem in September to improve its 4G services. The operator, which now has 20MHz in the 700MHz band, claims 99 per cent coverage in the 700MHz band and 90 per cent coverage in the 1.8GHz band.