Taiwan’s National Communications Commission has published a list of seven carriers that applied to operate the LTE services.

According to reports in Taiwanese local media, the LTE business is expected to open in Taiwan in 2014 at the earliest.

NCC said that of the seven applicants, four already have telecom businesses under operation and they are Chunghwa Telecom, FETnet, Taiwan Mobile, and Asia Pacific Telecom. In addition, three new telecom operators submitted their applications.

Yu Xiaocheng, a spokesperson from NCC, said that the issuance of mobile broadband business licenses will have two stages: qualification examination and bidding. During the first stage, three members from the commission and eight specialists from various sectors will form the examination committee. They will make sure that the applicants’ papers are complete and their bid bonds are put into the account. A list of qualified applicants will be published around August 15, and they will participate in bidding on September 3.

To ensure the smooth process of the bidding, NCC plans to establish a bidding system and 12 bidding rooms for these applicants, so that the bidding process will not be interrupted by any glitches.

After issuing the licenses at the end of 2013, NCC will accelerate the examination process. To seize the LTE market, those who gain the licenses may launch LTE services in Taiwan in 2014.