The telecom ministry said Thursday it plans to put up for auction the sole right to use the spectrum band of 2.5GHz, used for Long Term Evolution time-division duplex and wireless broadband, in the second half.

The move comes as KMI, a South Korean telecom firm, seeks to become the fourth local mobile carrier with the LTE-TDD network.

The ministry had said it would receive applications for the mobile business license through early June and later commence the auction among qualified bidders.

KMI withdrew from the last bid, its fifth try, earlier this year due to technical problems with the bidding procedure.

The winner of the bid will be allowed to use the 40MHz bandwidth in 2.5GHz spectrum for four years and nine months.

The LTE-TDD network is a fourth-generation mobile technology developed and led by China, while the frequency-division LTE was adopted by South Korea, the U.S., Japan and other nations. (Yonhap)