Hong Kong Planning CDMA License Tender

Hong Kong's telecoms regulator has announced plans to award a CDMA2000 license in Hong Kong from November 2008. The necessary subsidiary legislation will be tabled in the Legislative Council to impose spectrum utilisation fee on the use of the relevant spectrum and to prescribe the method of determining the spectrum utilisation fee by auction. The auction is expected to be held in the last quarter of 2007 after which the TA will grant one licence for use of the spectrum.

"At present, mobile services based on the CDMA2000 standard are provided in 85 economies, including the US, Korea, Japan and the Mainland. Altogether, there are 325 million CDMA2000 subscribers worldwide. In the Mainland, there are over 30 million CDMA2000 subscribers. The licensing of a new mobile service using the CDMA2000 standard will contribute to the harmonization of popular mobile services with the Mainland as well as other parts of the world, thereby strengthening Hong Kong's strategic position as a world city and the gateway between the Mainland and the world," a spokesperson of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OFTA") said.

"Any interested party, including incumbent fixed/mobile carriers, is welcome to bid for the spectrum. Details of the auction rules, including the reserve price, will be released nearer to the time of the auction," continued the spokesperson.

The Telecommunications Authority (TA) announced the decision in November 2004 that the incumbent licensee of the CDMA service would not be granted a new licence upon the expiry of its licence. Instead, it was given a three-year licence extension to facilitate subscriber migration to other networks until 20 November 2008. "

Posted to the site on 1st May 2007