Three Bidders Win Addition Radio Spectrum in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's telecoms regulator has concluded an auction of radio spectrum that started earlier this week - stating that three mobile network operators have successfully bid for a total of 9.6 MHz of radio spectrum in the 1800 MHz frequency band at a total of upfront spectrum utilization fee of HK$46.1 million (US$5.95 million).

"The demand for public mobile telecommunications services has been growing continuously. The number of mobile users has reached 11.58 million by March 2009, representing a penetration rate of 165%. The assignment of the radio spectrum through the auction enables the successful mobile network operators to expand their network capacity to meet the increasing demand," a spokesperson of OFTA said.

Apart from the upfront SUF, the provisional successful bidders are required to pay an annual SUF (for the period from 30 Sept 2009 to 29 Sept 2011, HK$232,000 for each frequency band per year; and for the period from 30 Sept 2011 to 29 Sept 2021, HK$2.32 million for each frequency band per year or 5% of the network turnover in the year concerned, whichever is the higher).

"The Telecommunications Authority will amend the existing carrier licences of the relevant mobile network operators to incorporate the newly assigned spectrum after receipt of the upfront SUF from them," the spokesperson of OFTA added.

The provisional successful bidders, the radio spectrum bid and the upfront spectrum utilization fee (SUF) determined in the auction are tabulated below:

Posted to the site on 10th June 2009