Hong Kong's MNOs making use of recently auctioned 5G-suitable spectrum
Hong Kong telecom sector has capitalised on having a liberalised regulatory environment, high-density housing spread across a small geographical area, and a strategic location at the southern tip of China. The territory lies near the top of world rankings for several parameters, including fibre broadband penetration, 5G use, and mobile penetration. Fixed-line teledensity is above 50%, declined 4% in 2022 as consumers continued to transition to mobile and IP platforms.Darker skies may be forming on the horizon, however. As China tightens its grip on the sovereignty of the territory and imposes political, commercial, and social restrictions that were absent during the British Colonial era, Hong Kong is starting to see its potency as a regional force being eaten away by countries such as Singapore which now offer much greater freedom to operate.
Concerns over national security prompted the US Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense to prevent the branch line of the newly completed Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) linking Los Angeles with Taiwan from being lit. And ongoing issues with the deployment of Huawei technology inside the core infrastructure of telecom networks (something that has been done extensively in Hong Kong, including in its 5G networks) means that the territory and along with its telecom sector and may become increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Consequently, Hong Kong is likely to drop from its position as a regional leader in the telecom market.
Key Developments:
HKBN expands MVNO agreement with HTHK to include 5G mobile and fibre network services.Unregistered prepaid SIM cards deactivated as from February 2023.
Regulator announces completion of three submarine fibre cables connecting Lamma Island, Cheung Chau, and Peng Chau under the government's subsidy scheme, with telcos committing to provide a 1Gb/s service to most of the 235 villages affected.
Proposed acquisition of HKBN by I Squared Capital suspended due to low purchase price.
OFCA auctions a further 255MHz of spectrum for 5G use while opening public consultations on reassigning 90MHz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz range from LTE to 5G.
MNOs close GSM networks and repurpose spectrum and infrastructure for LTE and 5G use.
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Table of Contents
- Key statistics
- Regional Asia market comparison
- Market characteristics
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI vs GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
- Country overview
- Telecommunications market
- Regulatory environment
- Regulatory authority
- Fixed-line developments
- Telecom Sector Liberalisation
- Universal Service Obligation (USO)
- Digital 21 IT Strategy
- Fibre infrastructure to villages
- Number Portability (NP)
- Mobile network developments
- Spectrum
- SIM card registration
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Mobile market
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- LTE
- 3G
- GSM
- Mobile voice
- Mobile data
- Mobile broadband
- Major mobile operators
- Hong Kong Telecom (HKT)
- Hutchison Telecom (Hutchison 3, 3 Hong Kong)
- SmarTone
- China Mobile Hong Kong
- Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Fixed broadband service providers
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN)
- Hong Kong Telecom (HKT)
- i-Cable
- Other fixed broadband services
- Wi-Fi
- Fixed network operators
- Hong Kong Telecom (HKT)
- HKBN
- Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong Holdings (HTHKH)
- HGC Global Communications
- i-Cable
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- International infrastructure
- Submarine cable networks
- H2
- Satellite
- Data centres
- Smart infrastructure
- Smart Cities
- IoT
- Digital economy
- E-Government
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
