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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) announced today (June 10) 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 utilisation fee of HK$46.1 million.
A spokesman for OFTA said, "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."
Three incumbent mobile network operators took part in the spectrum auction. Conducted on an Internet-based software platform, the auction began on June 8, 2009, and was completed today after a total of 27 bidding rounds over three days. The provisional successful bidders, the radio spectrum bid and the upfront spectrum utilisation fee (SUF) determined in the auction are tabulated at Annex A.
Apart from the upfront SUF, the provisional successful bidders are required to pay an annual SUF (for the period from September 30, 2009, to September 29, 2011, HK$232,000 for each frequency band per year; and for the period from September 30, 2011, to September 29, 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 spokesman added.
Ends/Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:28
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