In July 2007, Taiwan became the first major Asian country to issue licenses for 2.5GHz spectrum for mobile WiMAX applicants. Incumbent mobile operators Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile failed to secure spectrum. They were outbid by six companies that each walked away with regional licenses.

PHS operator First International Telecom (Fitel), Global On and Wei Mai Si Telecom, a joint venture of telecoms-equipment vendor Tecom and 3G licensee Vibo Telecom, won the three licenses for northern Taiwan, agreeing to pay 12.89%, 6.19% and 5.20% respectively of its WiMAX-service revenue to the government. Incumbent operator Far Eastone, home-appliance manufacturer Tatung and Vastar Cable TV System won the southern licenses, offering 4.18%, 7.25%, 8.69% respectively of WiMAX service revenue to the government.

Subsequently, US chip giant Intel signed an agreement with the Taiwanese government in 2008 to invest US$500m in the country over five years, with a heavy emphasis on the WiMAX industry. The government has already committed more than US$660m to WiMAX development as part of its M-Taiwan project. The project aims to have eight million wireless broadband subscribers in the country by 2010 through incubation of Taiwanese WiMAX start-ups. This has led to the establishment of more than 30 Taiwanese companies supplying WiMAX chipsets and CPE equipment. Through this commitment, the Taiwanese government has also persuaded the WiMAX Forum to set up two certification testing labs in the country.

Far EasTone plans to launch its 802.16e service in southern Taiwan in 2H09. The company has teamed up with Tatung Telecom, to jointly build a network in southern Taiwan. Global Mobile in northern Taiwan claims to be the first WiMAX operator in the world that has committed to trialling NextWave’s mobile TV technology, MXTV. The trial is to take place in Taipei, and the technology is designed to make mobile TV an adjunct service that WiMAX operators can offer easily. Chunghwa Telecom however, is reportedly refusing to allow any of the six WiMAX licensees to collocate their WiMAX base stations alongside its mobile sites.