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The Government today (October 25) announced the start of a three-month public consultation on a proposed policy framework for managing the radio spectrum in Hong Kong.
The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong said that the use of spectrum in Hong Kong had always been managed by the Government, primarily to promote efficient allocation and to prevent one spectrum user from causing unacceptable interference to another.
"In recent years, some overseas advanced economies have moved away from the 'command and control' approach towards market-based arrangements for spectrum management. Furthermore, the industry in Hong Kong has expressed a wish for more clarity and predictability in spectrum rights and supply to enable them to make better-informed investment decisions.
"With the above considerations in mind, we undertook a fundamental review of the current spectrum policy. The aim is to formulate a responsive and transparent spectrum policy that enables the community to reap maximum benefits from the deployment of spectrum.
"One of the policy objectives should be to strengthen Hong Kong's strategic position as a world city and gateway to the Mainland of China and the world by facilitating the provision of key services in Hong Kong which are, or will be, deployed globally or on the Mainland."
The spectrum policy framework under the Government's proposals covers six aspects:
* Spectrum policy objectives;
* Guiding principles in spectrum management;
* Spectrum supply (including spectrum trading and liberalisation);
* Spectrum rights;
* Spectrum pricing; and
* Spectrum for government services.
The consultation paper proposes that the spectrum policy framework should set out a guiding principle that the Telecommunications Authority (TA) should use a market-based approach in spectrum management when there are competing commercial demands, unless there are overriding public policy reasons to do otherwise.
On spectrum supply from the TA, the spectrum policy framework proposes that the TA should publish a spectrum release plan for the supply of spectrum to the market through an open, competitive bidding process in the following three years.
The document also proposes that, as a broad direction under the spectrum policy framework, consideration should be given to introducing secondary trading of spectrum in the longer term, subject to a study of the feasibility of this proposal in Hong Kong.
Because of potential interference problems, the Government, for the time-being, will not allow a spectrum user to change the use of the assigned spectrum without consent from the TA. The Government will however monitor developments in other jurisdictions and consider further their applicability to Hong Kong.
Because spectrum is a public resource, the consultation paper proposes that a spectrum utilisation fee (SUF) should be applicable to the commercial use of spectrum, unless there are public policy considerations. For spectrum that is not auctioned, the SUF should be administratively set to reflect the opportunity cost of the spectrum.
The consultation paper proposes that the spectrum for government services should continue to be reserved by the TA for government spectrum users. The spectrum should however be subject to a regular administrative review every three years on how efficiently the spectrum assigned has been put to use, the future spectrum requirements of the users and ways to improve the efficiency of spectrum usage.
The consultation paper can be downloaded from the website of the Communications and Technology Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, www.citb.gov.hk/ctb/eng/paper/index.htm. Comments on the proposal should be sent to the bureau by January 24, 2007 by post: Communications and Technology Branch, Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, 2/F Murray Building, Garden Road, Hong Kong; by fax to 2511 1458/2827 0119 or by e-mail: spr@citb.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:28
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