Taiwan Mobile

Company Overview

Taiwan Mobile (台灣大哥大) is a large telecommunications service provider and mobile network operator in Taiwan. The company was founded in February 1997 as Pacific Cellular Corporation, by the now-defunct Pacific Electric Wire & Cable Co. Ltd (PEWC). After acquiring TransAsia Telecommunications in 2001, Mobitai in 2004, and Taiwan Telecommunication Network Services in 2007, the company its name change to Taiwan Mobile in February 2008. The company was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 2002.

After secured its first GSM operating licence in December 1997 the company commenced a national rollout of an 1800 MHz 2G GSM service. Granted a 3G operating licence in 2002, Taiwan Mobile spent several years deploying its 3G network which was switched on in May 2005 - the first company in Taiwan to launch a 3G network. The network used a B1 (2100 MHz) carrier, and was later upgraded to support HSPA+ data services in 2011 and DC-HSPA+ in November that same year.

In January 2018 the Taiwanese government mandated that all 3G networks were to be switched off by the end of 2018, with the valuable spectrum to be refarmed to improve LTE services.

Taiwan Mobile's 4G LTE services began in June 2014 using a 15 MHz B28 (700 MHz) carrier. B3 (1800 MHz) was added in September 2014 using a 5 MHz channel, with 2CC carrier aggregation used to increase peak data rates. With the company securing a further 5 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in March 2015 and 6.3 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum in May 2015, B28 was extended to 20 MHz and B3 extended to 10 MHz. Refarming of 1800 MHz GSM services later permitting B3 channel size to be extended to 15 MHz.

Following the switch-off of 2100 MHz 3G, the company announced a new 20 MHz B1 (2100 MHz) LTE service with 3C CA was planned for early 2019.

The company launched 5G services in July 2020, with both FR1 and FR2 bands activated.

Taiwan Mobile IoT

Taiwan Mobile announced the deployment of a national NB-IoT network in March 2018, with the company announcing its target of 100% coverage by mid-2018.