China Unicom backs Hong Kong’s mobile spectrum reassignment plan despite industry concerns
Public consultation exercise under way
China Unicom, the country’s second-largest wireless network operator, has expressed its support for the Hong Kong government’s latest proposal to reassign the city’s mobile spectrum, despite local industry concerns.
Unicom chairman and chief executive Wang Xiaochu said that based on the city’s successful reassignment of 3G spectrum in 2014, Hong Kong consumers would ultimately benefit from the government’s plan.
Speaking after the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday, Wang did not say whether Unicom was interested in participating in Hong Kong’s public auction of spectrum, the radio frequency bands over which wireless network services are provided.
Industry regulator the Communications Authority (CA) is conducting a public consultation exercise on what the government should do when the licences of the city’s incumbent mobile network operators in the 900-megahertz and 1800MHz bands expirebetween November 2020 and September 2021, according to the CA.
We don’t have an exact figure, but the increase in operating cost will be huge
Its three options include: renewing the licences of the incumbent mobile network operators; taking back the entire assigned spectrum and auction it off; and retaining 20 per cent of the spectrum for the incumbent operators and auctioning off 80 per cent.
Submissions to the CA’s first public consultation will close on Wednesday. A second round of consultation is planned in the third quarter of the year.
