The Hong Kong government is taking comments through December 15
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (SCED) and the Communications Authority (CA) recently launched a public consultation on the proposed reassignment of 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 850/900 MHz bands and 90 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band.
The government of Hong Kong wants to reassign these frequencies, which are currently licensed for 4G services but are set to expire within the next few years.
The 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 850/900 MHz band is currently assigned to two mobile network operators in support of 4G services, with the existing assignments due to expire in May 2026.
The 90 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band is currently assigned to three operators and mainly used to provide 4G services, with the existing assignments due to expire in March 2027.
“As there are likely to be competing demands for the spectrum, the CA proposes to reassign it by way of auction. Under the technology neutral approach, prospective spectrum assignees may make use of the spectrum acquired for the provision of 4G and 5G services to meet the future demand for innovative mobile services and applications,” a spokesman for the CA said.
“The auctioning of spectrum will ensure that such a scarce public resource be put into the hands of those who value it the most and will consequently put it to the most efficient use, thereby benefiting the general public at large,” said a spokesman for Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.
The Hong Kong government said that views and comments from the industry and other interested parties on the potential auction should be submitted before December 15 2022. After taking into account the views and comments received, SCED and the CA plan to make their respective decisions no later than May 2023, giving the incumbent spectrum users a three-year or more advance notice of changes.
In October of 2021, the Hong Kong government had announced the award of 255 megahertz of spectrum in 19 frequency blocks after a spectrum auction that required a total of 32 rounds of bidding in three days. In this spectrum, the local government secured spectrum utilization fees of a total of HKD 1.87 billion (currently $239.2 million).
Through this spectrum auction, OFCA made available blocks of spectrum in the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 2.5/2.6 GHz and 4.9 GHz bands.
The local government had previously said that Hong Kong mobile operators will be required to reach a minimum population coverage of 90% within five years for the 700 MHz, 850 MHz and 2.5 GHz to 2.6 GHz frequencies allocations. The service obligation for the 4.9 GHz band is 50% population coverage with five years, with a requirement for the deployment of at least 100 indoor base stations in the 600 MHz band over the same time period.
China Mobile Hong Kong, Hutchinson and HKT had launched commercial 5G services in Hong Kong in April 2020, while SmarTone, announced the launch of commercial 5G services in the territory using Ericsson’s Dynamic Spectrum Technology (DSS) in May 2020.
Local operators had acquired 200 megahertz of 3.5 GHz spectrum in mid-October 2019. These 5G licenses will be valid for a 15-year period.
