Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wharf bid for mobile licence

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 15:12:26 -0500

Wharf bid for mobile licence
Georgina Lee

Wharf T&T is making a third attempt to enter Hong Kong's crowded mobile
phone market by asking the Office of the Telecommunications Authority
(Ofta) to open up the 800 MHz frequency bandwidth now held by Hutchison
Telecom and CSL.

The telecom regulator is considering not renewing licences of CSL and
Hutchison Telecom, which expire in May and November, 2005, respectively,
because they have been under-utilising the spectrum resources and have
few subscribers.
But both Hutchison and CSL are unwilling to give up the bandwidth and
allow new players into the market. Hutchison has told The Standard the
regulator cannot take back its licence just because user numbers are
low. CSL said it still intends to offer a new service with its licence,
although the company has no new subscribers on the bandwidth.

Wharf T&T, a fixed-line operator, failed in two previous attempts in
1990 and 1995 to get a mobile licence.
Tony Cheung, Wharf T&T's director of consumer market, said yesterday the
company is seeking the 800MHz bandwidth and intends to enter the
voice-only market.

Cheung said there is still room for growth in the voice-only market.
``We have a fixed network in Hong Kong and a big subscriber base as our
backing to launch mobile [services],'' he said.

The company is also still considering the conventional GSM (global
standard for mobile communications), a 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz frequency
bandwidth network on which most operators offer their services.

CSL and Hutchison Telecom are also using the 800 MHz TDMA (time division
multiple access) and CDMA (code division multiple access) modes of
services, respectively.

The proposal to auction off the 800 MHz was first raised in an Ofta
consultation paper issued last August on licensing conditions for second
generation (2G) mobile service.

City Telecom - another fixed-line operator eyeing the 800 MHz spectrum -
said last year it has already conducted a feasibility test on CDMA2000
1x and that it would only take one year to set up the network. Last
month, Ofta said that it will conduct a second round of consultation
around the first quarter this year.

But in the already saturated mobile phone market, analysts don't see any
opportunities for a new player. ``It is not sensible to look at CDMA2000
1x when no one [in the market] is already using it. If in three years
time they can get to the market, there are already three 3G network
operators [in the market] and you are competing against [all of them],''
BNP Paribas Peregrine telecom analyst Voon San Lai said.

25 February 2004 / 03:01 AM

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/thestandard/news_detail_frame.cfm?articleid=45453&intcatid=1

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