Hong Kong should be preparing for 5G now

HKT has called on the HKSAR government to take action to prepare for the arrival of 5G, stating that the government has done nothing to advance 5G development in the city.

In a discussion paper, HKT once again the government and criticized telecoms regulator OFCA for what it says is a failure to allocate enough spectrum to support an advanced mobile industry, expressing concern over the fact that no new spectrum allocation is planned for the next three years.

HKT said the government’s “short-sighted policies on mobile spectrum… are set to negatively impact mobile users and the Hong Kong economy for the many years to come.” The paper notes that no new spectrum has been made available since 2013.

In this regard, Hong Kong fares poorly compared to other markets such as Japan, Korea and China, which have been taking action to facilitate 5G trials and development, the operator said.

“OFCA should be preparing the ground today for the emergence of true 5G services which will be available when we step into the next decade – disappointingly it is not doing so; and, worse, it is on the record as not wanting to do anything because it says ‘zero’ new spectrum will be available.”

HKT separately noted that UK regulator Ofcom has released a new discussion paper echoing the company’s view that regulators and lawmakers should be taking immediate action to enable the development of 5G technology.

The UK regulator already has plans in place to make the 700-MHz band available for services including 5G, and is undertaking work with an eye to potentially doing the same for the 3.6-GHz and 3.8-GHz bands.