HONG KONG-Hong Kong’s Office of Telecommunications Authority announced plans to issue a new license in vacated spectrum of two existing mobile services licenses offering CDMA and TDMA services when the licenses expire next year.
A consultation paper addressing the issue noted subscribers on the CDMA network fell from 280,000 in 2000 to 40,000 in 2003, while subscribers on the TDMA network fell from 140,000 to 30,000 during the same timeframe.
“We see opportunity to issue a new license in the vacated spectrum to facilitate the introduction of innovative mobile data services supported by the CDMA2000 standard, which is currently not adopted in Hong Kong,” said Marion Lai, deputy secretary of commerce, industry and technology. “This will allow consumers to enjoy services and mobile phones or devices that have become successful and popular in places like Japan and South Korea. It will also enhance consumers’ demand for mobile data services and hence increase revenue potential of the market to the benefit of all players.”
Hutchison Whampoa, the CDMA license owner, railed against the OFTA proposal, saying it has fully complied with its license terms and that OFTA never notified it of any minimum-subscriber rules for license renewal.
“We are of the view that the spectrum under the two licenses should be vacated upon their expiry for better utilization, which will in turn benefit the consumers at large. We therefore propose that the CDMA and TDMA licensees should not be entitled to the ‘right of first refusal,’ ” said Lai.
The paper proposed making some of the spectrum available for a new license while the remainder of the spectrum will be held for future use.
