台灣地區之第三代行動電信業務執照(3G license)仿效歐洲國家之先例，採用拍賣(auction)方式發放。交通部電信總局共釋放5張執照，在有6家競標廠商的情況下，競價從九十一年元月十六日起，進行至二月六日止，在19天180回合的競價後，5張執照以總價新台幣488.99億元標出，較底價高出152.99億元。5張執照的平均價格接近百億台幣，因此競價的過程和結果廣受媒體矚目。 3G執照拍賣是政府第一次以拍賣方式釋放電信執照，過去的執照發放多採評審制。在政府形成決策前，對產官學界所做的徵詢中，有多數的意見認為3G執照發放仍應採評審制，或是認為拍賣並非一個好的發放方式。而在執照拍賣完成後，國內管理學者所做的一些研究也得到評審制優於拍賣的結論。這樣的意見，與歐美國家受經濟學家影響而逐一改用拍賣方式發放執照的趨勢相左。本文的目的在於，從經濟學的角度解釋經濟學家鼓吹以拍賣方式發放執照背後的理論與想法，希望藉此讓管理學界與經濟學界在這個課題上有進一步的對話與了解。

In April; 2000, the United Kingdom conducted the world's first third-generation (3G) spectrum auction, raising a total of 34 billion US dollars for 5 licenses. Since then, countries like Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, and Hong Kong have conducted their own 3G license auctions, with different details in auction design and with various degrees of success. Taiwan has just finished its 3G license auction on Feb. 6, 2002, raising a total of NT$48.9 billion (about 1.4 billion US dollars) for 5 license. On average, each license sold for nearly NT$10 billion, thus the auction has attracted much media attention. The 3G license auction marked the first time Taiwanese government used the auction to release and allocate spectrum licenses. In the past, this was done through comparative hearings, or beauty contests. Scholars in Taiwan communication arena in various occasions voiced their doubts about using auction to allocation spectrum licenses. This is in odd with the trend seen in many Western countries as these governments have taken the advices from economists and moved to the auction method. The purpose of this paper is to explain to the readers the rationale behind economists' vehement drive to popularize the auction method, and to answer several criticisms about auctions raised by the public.