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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (January 16):
Question:
To facilitate expeditious and cost-effective provision of Wi-Fi service in public places, the Government has made available government properties and facilities in public streets, such as lamp posts and road bridges/footbridges, at nominal rental to authorised service providers for the installation of Wi-Fi antennas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of providers who have submitted applications for the installation of Wi-Fi antennas on lamp posts and the total number of lamp posts involved; and
(b) whether it has drawn up measures to ensure that the relevant government departments, such as the Transport Department, and the power companies will actively facilitate the installation works of the service providers; if it has, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
To facilitate the development of Hong Kong into a leading wireless city, the Government has made available facilities in public streets, such as lamp posts, and government properties at nominal rental to telecommunications services operators for installing Wi-Fi devices and equipment for the provision of Wi-Fi service. To this end, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) revised in March 2007 the "Guidance Note for Submission of Application for Installing Micro-cell Base Station on Highway Facilities or on Unleased and Unallocated Government Land" (the "Guidance Note") to set out in details the application methods, procedures and requirements.
Apart from using lamp posts, service operators may also set up Wi-Fi hotspots at various locations, such as public telephone kiosks, convenience shops, cafes, shopping malls, the airport and railway stations, etc., for the provision of service. Currently, there are over 5,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at around 3,000 different locations throughout the territory. Furthermore, the Housing Department has recently made available to service operators about 1,000 lobbies at the ground floor of public housing estates for the provision of Wi-Fi services at the lobbies and the outdoor areas in the vicinity. The Government has also awarded contracts to install in stages Wi-Fi facilities in some 350 highly patronised Government premises in different districts, including public libraries, public enquiry service centres, sports centres, cultural and recreational centres, job centres, community halls, large parks, Government offices, etc. These measures have made Hong Kong one of the leading cities in the world in the provision of Wi-Fi services.
My reply to the question is as follows:
(a) At present, a total of three service operators have applied for installation of Wi-Fi facilities on lamp posts. After coordination with the relevant Government departments, OFTA has indicated support for the installation of Wi-Fi facilities on 669 lamp posts.
(b) To facilitate the installation of Wi-Fi devices on facilities in public streets, OFTA is responsible for coordinating the vetting work of various Government departments. OFTA and the Highways Department have already compiled detailed information of lamp posts (including their types, locations and height) which can be made available for installation of Wi-Fi devices in all streets across the territory. The information has been provided to all Wi-Fi service operators for reference.
In accordance with the Guidance Note, service operators have to, after obtaining the support of OFTA, submit a specific technical proposal of Wi-Fi installations, prescribing the size, capacity, appearance and installation method, etc., of the equipment to be used, to the Highways Department and Transport Department. This is to ensure that the Wi-Fi installations to be mounted on the lamp posts will not pose any adverse effect on the structure of the lamp posts, operation of the street lamps, road users and the environment, nor affect public safety. Since the electrical installations of lamp posts are not designed to supply electricity on a 24-hour basis, operators have to submit proposals on the arrangement for electricity supply. Amongst the aforesaid three service operators, one of them has presented its technical proposal to the Highways Department, which in turn has responded to the operator on the proposal.
Separately, the Housing Authority also plans to reserve ducts between lamp posts in new housing estates to facilitate the installation of Wi-Fi or other electronic services facilities in future.
To facilitate the installation of Wi-Fi equipment on lamp posts, OFTA will continue to coordinate with the relevant departments to actively discuss with operators on further technical proposals and electricity supply arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:31
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