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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) has completed a comprehensive survey on the coverage of mobile phone networks along popular hiking trails in Hong Kong.
Based on the survey results, 125 digital maps covering the same number of popular hiking trails in Hong Kong have been produced and published on OFTA's web site for public reference.
A spokesman for OFTA said the digital maps covered most of the popular hiking trails in Hong Kong, providing useful information to hikers on whether emergency telephone calls may be connected to at least one of the local mobile operators along the hiking trails.
The survey began in mid-March 2006 and took five months to complete. The total length of hiking trails covered is more than 600 kilometres.
"It was a large-scale project which required intensive manpower to complete. Thanks to the voluntary participation of more than 50 OFTA staff members in the survey, the whole project has been successfully completed. The digital maps have been published on OFTA's website by phases and the first batch was published in September. It is our plan to update the maps regularly," the spokesman said.
In the maps, three different colours are used along the trails to denote the availability of mobile service coverage. Green colour indicates that the signal of at least one local mobile network is good. Yellow colour indicates that the voice quality of calls may be poor whereas red colour indicates that there is no network coverage at all. At locations marked with green or yellow, hikers subscribing to any GSM network may dial 112 to contact the 999 Emergency Centre.
However, the spokesman emphasised that the digital maps should be used only as a reference. It is still important for hikers to make all necessary preparations before setting off, including paying attention to weather reports, making reference to the more detailed hiking publications published by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, and avoiding hiking alone.
"Hikers should also understand the limitation of mobile service. Owing to the hilly terrain of Hong Kong and the characteristics of radio propagation, it is unavoidable that some locations have no or poor mobile service coverage," the spokesman said.
The Government has been spending efforts to enhance the safety of hikers and country park visitors. Various initiatives have been taken to encourage mobile network operators to build more base stations to serve the country parks. These initiatives include charging a nominal rent of $1 per year for use of Government land, allowing operators to use existing facilities at Government hill-top sites, and waiving the utilisation fee for the additional radio spectrum specifically allocated to serve the country parks. These measures have been effective as five new base stations have already been built this year. They are at Cloudy Hill in Tai Po, Shek Uk Shan in Sai Kung, Woodside near Tai Tam Country Park, Tsuen Kam Au near Tai Mo Shan and Robin's Nest near Sha Tau Kok. With these new base stations, the total number of base stations for country parks has increased to 12. Several other new base stations are also being planned for 2007. They include three additional base stations, which are already in the pipeline, to improve mobile network coverage in southern Lantau, Tai Lam Chung and eastern Sai Kung.
TV and radio announcements have also been launched by the Government to remind people about how they can make the best use of communications devices in country parks.
Further details about the mobile network coverage maps and how to stay in touch in country parks are available on OFTA's web site at: http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/ca_bd/country_park.html
Ends/Friday, December 22, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:31
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