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Mobile coverage in country parks has been further improved with the launch of a new base station at Long Ke today (August 12), bringing the total number of base stations in country parks to 13. With three more mobile base stations under construction and scheduled to be completed later this year, the mobile coverage in Sai Kung, southern Lantau and Tai Lam Chung will be further enhanced.
A spokesman for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) said, "As one of its on-going initiatives, OFTA continues to facilitate and coordinate with the mobile network operators to establish new mobile base stations in the country parks. Thanks to the effort of the industry, the mobile coverage in the country parks has been significantly improved in recent years. On this particular occasion we would like to thank China Mobile Peoples Telephone Company Limited for taking a lead in the construction of the new base station at Long Ke as well as Smartone 3G Limited for joining the project. Other operators will also soon join the project."
The newly launched mobile station at Long Ke covers the Sai Kung East Country Park, the Long Ke Wan and parts of the Maclehose Trail Section 1 and Section 2.
"OFTA also continues to update the information of mobile coverage in country parks for dissemination to the public. So far a total of 161 digital maps have been produced and posted on OFTA's website (http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/ca_bd/country_map/main.html) for public information," the spokesman continued.
Three different colours are used in the maps to denote the availability of mobile service along the more popular trails. Green colour indicates that the signal of at least one local mobile network is good. Yellow colour indicates that the voice quality of calls may be poor and red colour indicates that there is no mobile service. At locations marked with green or yellow, hikers subscribing to any GSM network may dial 112 to contact the 999 emergency call centre when they are in need of help. The digital maps also display the locations of public phones and emergency helplines.
"Even though the mobile coverage in country parks has been improved, we would like to remind hikers to make full preparations before they go for hiking. Apart from obtaining all relevant hiking information, they should bring along other communications devices other than mobile phones, such as walkie-talkies. Owing to Hong Kong's hilly terrain and the characteristics of radio propagation, it is unavoidable that some locations are not covered by the mobile network. Hikers should not solely rely on mobile phones for communications, especially during an emergency" the spokesman said.
Detailed information about the various means of communications that could be used in case of an emergency is posted on OFTA's website under the column "Stay in Touch in Country Parks" (http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/ca_bd/country_park.html).
Ends/Sunday, August 12, 2007
Issued at HKT 11:01
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