Telecommunications industry in Hong Kong

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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) is the legislative body responsible for regulating the telecommunications industry in Hong Kong. The OFTA has liberalized all telecom sectors and there are no foreign ownership restrictions.

Contents

In the local fixed-line market there is neither a pre-set limit on the number of licenses issued nor deadline for applications. As of 2004, there were nine fixed-line licensees: PCCW-HKT, New World Telephone Limited, Wharf T & T Limited, Hutchison Global Crossing Limited, Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited, Eastar Technology Limited, CM Tel. (HK) Limited, TraxComm Limited and HKC Network Limited. [1] Consequently, the telephone density is, with 56 lines per 100 people, among the highest in the world. [2]

As of 2004 there are 197 licensed Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Hong Kong, providing dial-up or broadband services. Hong Kong is the second after South Korea in terms of broadband penetration rate (53%).

With regard to mobile services, the OFTA awarded four 3G licenses in 2001: Hong Kong CSL Limited, Hutchison 3G (HK) Limited, SmartTone 3G Limited and Sunday 3G (HK) Limited The first 3G mobile services were launched in January 2004. [2] Moreover, these four 3G operators, together with New World Mobility and Peoples Telephone Company Limited operate a total of eleven GSM networks. Thus the mobile density as of 2004 is one of the highest in the world (106.3%). [2]

Telecommunication company

As of July 2017, the penetration rate in Hong Kong was estimated at 240.8% over a population estimate of over 7.325 million. [3] [4] [5] Hong Kong's telecom regulator is the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA).

RankOperatorTechnologySubscribers

(in millions)

Ownership
1 CMHK(China Mobile Hong Kong) GSM-1800 (GPRS, EDGE)

2100 MHz UMTS, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ 900/1800/2100/2600(B7)/2300(B40) MHz LTE-A

8.274 [6] (June 2017) China Mobile
2 HKT (including csl, 1O1O and Club SIM) GSM-900/1800 (GPRS, EDGE)

900/2100 MHz UMTS, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ 900/1800/2600(B7) MHz LTE-A

4.324 [7] (Dec 2018) PCCW Limited

(Pacific Century Group 28.97%, China Unicom 19.9%)

3 3 Hong Kong GSM-900/1800 (GPRS, EDGE)

900 MHz UMTS, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ 900/1800/2100/2600(B7)/2300(B40) MHz LTE-A

Hutchison Telecom
4 SmarTone GSM-900/1800 (GPRS)

850/2100 MHz UMTS, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ 900/1800/2100/2600(B7) MHz LTE-A

2.47 [9] (Dec 2018) Sun Hung Kai Properties
5CUniq HK

(China Unicom Hong Kong)

Using 3 Hong Kong0.87 [10] (Oct 2018) China Unicom
6 Hong Kong Broadband Network Using CMHK and SmarToneN/AHKBN Ltd.
7 SUN Mobile Using CSL MobileN/A HKT (60%), Telecom Digital (40%)
8Birdie Mobile
Using SmarToneN/A SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited [11]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A. Lai, D. Murphy, "Hong Kong’s Telecommunications Industry", Stat-USA Market Research Reports. 2003
  2. 1 2 3 "Hong Kong: The Facts. Telecommunications", Information Services Department. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. 2004
  3. ↑ "香港電訊指標". Office of the Communications Authority . Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "香港无线通信服务的主要统计数字" (PDF). Office of the Communications Authority . Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Office of the Communications Authority - Choice of Service Providers". www.ofca.gov.hk. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  6. ↑ China Mobile group only releases annual report of its total subscribers which is around 866 million users as of June 2017, which includes mainland China operations and Hong Kong operations. With the total number of mobile users in Hong Kong being over 17 million, and subtracting subscribers of other three networks in Hong Kong, the results are remaining subscribers of CMHK, which is around 8 million users.
  7. ↑ "香港電訊信託" [Hong Kong Telecommunications Trust](PDF). www.hkt.com (in Chinese).
  8. "2018 Annual Results Presentation" (PDF). www.hthkh.com. 2019-02-28.
  9. ↑ "SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited" (PDF). www.smartoneholdings.com. 2019-01-30.
  10. ↑ 張雅婷 (2018-10-05). "中國聯通兩個月兩度死機 13.8萬客戶受影響 遭通訊局罰款16萬元". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  11. ↑ 區慶威 (29 January 2018). "【自由鳥Birdie】新電訊商登場 免費送SIM主打平價漫遊". 香港01. Retrieved 2018-02-27.

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