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Following is a question by the Hon Jeffrey Lam and a written reply by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, in the Legislative Council today (January 20):
Question:
The Government has been providing Government Wi-Fi Programme (GovWiFi) service since 2008 by installing wireless local area networks (i.e. Wi-Fi) at designated government premises to provide free Internet access to the public, aiming at building Hong Kong into a wireless city. It has been reported that members of the public using GovWiFi service found that the service had a low connection speed and they experienced service disconnection. The download speed of GovWiFi is particularly slow in the Hong Kong Central Library. For example, it takes more than four minutes to open a picture file which is five megabytes in size. Furthermore, GovWiFi service is still not yet available at a number of government premises at present. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current number and percentage of government buildings and premises providing GovWiFi service;
(2) of the details of the plan to extend the coverage of GovWiFi service;
(3) of the details of the plan to enhance the data transmission speed of GovWiFi service; and
(4) as some specialists in electronics have pointed out that since GovWiFi service currently only operates in the 2.4 GHz band, and quite a number of radio apparatuses also operate in such band to transmit data, resulting in the data transmission speed of GovWiFi service being lowered due to interference, whether the Government has plans to enhance GovWiFi service so that the service can operate in the 5 GHz band at the same time, so as to enhance data transmission speed; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The use of the Internet has become an important part of citizens' daily life. The Government has all along been committed to facilitating and encouraging the development of public Wi-Fi services for the convenience of the public. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) will leverage the advanced information and communications technology infrastructure of Hong Kong to develop it into a connected Wi-Fi City.
The Government Wi-Fi Programme (GovWiFi) was launched in 2008 to provide free Wi-Fi services mainly at government premises with high patronage. Apart from progressively extending the free GovWiFi service to more government premises, the OGCIO has also collaborated with the industry to launch the common branding of Wi-Fi.HK in August 2014 to facilitate the public in using Wi-Fi services (free or time-limited free) provided by public and private organisations.
My reply to the four-part question is as follows:
(1) As at December 2015, over 3 000 Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at around 600 government premises in the 18 districts across the territory under GovWiFi for free use by the public. These premises include all public libraries, public enquiry service centres of District Offices, community halls/centres, law court buildings and job centres. Other premises with higher coverage include cooked food markets/centres, sports venues as well as cultural and recreational centres.
(2) To facilitate the public to locate and access free public Wi-Fi services in Hong Kong, we have collaborated with the industry to provide over 17 000 hotspots under the Wi-Fi.HK brand in all the 18 districts across the territory, including the Hong Kong International Airport, major tourist attractions, public telephone booths, shopping centres and shops, restaurants, cafés, convenience stores, university and tertiary institution campuses, some public hospitals (waiting halls of their Accident and Emergency Departments and specialist out-patient clinics) and government clinics, and all government premises covered by GovWiFi. Users can enjoy at least 30 minutes' free Wi-Fi services without prior registration.
The Policy Address has recently announced that we will progressively expand the coverage of Wi-Fi.HK by doubling the number of hotspots to 34 000 within three years to provide free Wi-Fi services to citizens at premises with high patronage including all public rental housing estates and public hospitals, markets, parks, sitting-out areas, promenades, tourist spots, public transport interchanges, land boundary control points and other public premises. We will also offer free Wi-Fi services at all youth service centres and study rooms run by the Government and non-profit-making organisations, and work with schools to improve the quality of their Wi-Fi services in order to support e-learning.
(3) To improve connection speed, we will progressively double the overall Wi-Fi connection speed with enhanced security at government premises. For example, we have increased the connection speed for each user from about 1-2 Mbps to 4 Mbps at government premises with high patronage, including all public libraries, to facilitate the public to enjoy faster Internet services. To ensure the quality of GovWiFi service, we will monitor the bandwidth usage in different premises, and review and adjust the bandwidth and number of hotspots in the premises regularly. We will also perform monthly sample checks at GovWiFi premises to monitor service performance, including transmission speed and connection stability, and conduct round-the-clock monitoring of GovWiFi service performance to ensure cost-effectiveness.
(4) Currently, GovWiFi provides service through the 2.4GHz band which is good for supporting most mobile devices used by the public, including those supporting legacy Wi-Fi standards only (IEEE 802.11 b/g). We have to take into consideration the popularity of different mobile devices when considering new Wi-Fi technologies and standards. We will closely monitor the development of Wi-Fi technology and timely update related technologies and standards to enhance the service.
Ends/Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:35
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