Far EasTone and Chunghwa Telecom were tipped to be targeting commercial 5G launches on 1 July, after the former received a second licence issued by authorities, Taiwan News reported.

The newspaper stated the National Communications Commission (NCC) issued Chunghwa Telecom’s licence last week, and is reviewing applications from Taiwan Mobile, Taiwan Star Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom.

Operators are required to deploy 250 5G base stations before they can offer the next-generation mobile service.

Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone and Taiwan Mobile have a combined market share of around 85 per cent. They are expected to introduce some of the lowest-priced unlimited 5G data plans in the world, with monthly tariffs of about TWD1,399 ($47.26), Taiwan News wrote.

At an auction in January, Chunghwa Telecom won 90MHz in the 3.5GHz band and 600MHz of 28GHz spectrum; Far EasTone 80MHz and 400MHz respectively; and Taiwan Mobile 60MHz and 200MHz.

Taiwan Star Telecom secured airwaves in the 3.5GHz band, and Asia Pacific Telecom, the smallest operator, acquired 28GHz spectrum.

In March, Chunghwa Telecom named Ericsson and Nokia as 5G RAN vendors and Far EasTone selected Ericsson.