****************************************************
About 94% of the popular hiking trails in the territory were now covered by at least one local mobile network to enable hikers and country park visitors to dial 112 for assistance in case of emergency, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, said today (September 3).
Speaking at a ceremony at Fung Yuen Village Office in Tai Po to mark the enhancement of mobile coverage in Tai Po country areas, Mr Wong said that to enable hikers and other country park visitors to seek assistance when the need arose, the Government had been proactively encouraging mobile network operators to further improve their service coverage in country parks.
Initiatives implemented include allowing mobile network operators to use various Government hilltop sites for building base stations, charging a nominal rent of $1 per year, and waiving the utilisation fee for the additional radio spectrum specially allocated for use at these base stations.
"With these initiatives, I am glad to see that mobile network operators have responded positively to the community's appeal for better mobile network coverage in country areas," Mr Wong said.
Five new base stations have been erected in 2006. They are at Cloudy Hill in Tai Po, Shek Uk Shan in Sai Kung, Woodside near Tai Tam Country Park, Tsuen Kam Au near Tai Mo Shan and Robin's Nest near Sha Tau Kok, which can provide service coverage to parts of Pat Sin Leng Country Park.
With these new base stations, the total number of base stations serving the popular hiking trails, such as the Maclehose Trail, Wilson Trail, Lantau Trail and Hong Kong Trail, as well as other country trails recommended by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, has increased to 12.
"To further improve mobile coverage in country parks, we are discussing with the mobile operators the installation of additional base stations to serve other parts of the hiking and country trails that are outside the service coverage of mobile networks. For example, three additional base stations to serve southern Lantau, Tai Lam Chung and eastern Sai Kung are in the pipeline.
"I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to 3 Hong Kong, which has made a great contribution in setting up the base station at Cloudy Hill, and the support rendered by other mobile operators in sharing the social responsibility for improving the coverage of mobile services in country parks," Mr Wong said.
Despite the improving mobile coverage, Mr Wong stressed that due to the characteristics of radio propagation and the rugged terrain in country parks, individual "blind spots" scattered around the country park areas could not be completely eliminated.
"To provide the public with more information about mobile network coverage, as from today, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority will publish on their website a series of digital maps showing mobile network coverage along popular hiking and country trails. The information should be useful to hikers and country park visitors for planning their routes and activities.
"TV and radio announcements will also be launched by the Government in October, just before the peak season for hiking, to remind people about how they can make the best use of communications devices in country parks," Mr Wong said.
Also officiating at today's ceremony were Legislative Councillor, Mr Cheung Hok-ming; Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, Mrs Stella Hung; and Director-General of Telecommunications, Mr M H Au.
Ends/Sunday, September 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:05
NNNN