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In order to encourage efficient use of telecommunications numbers, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) announced today (February 20) that the application of the annual number fee will be extended to public radio paging and mobile virtual network services with effect from June 1, 2009.
A spokesman for OFTA said, "Telecommunications numbers are a limited public resource. To encourage efficient use of numbers and to extend the life span of the current eight-digit numbering plan, a number fee as a component of the annual licence fee for each allocated number has already been applied to service-based operators and unified carrier licensees. For consistency and fairness, the Telecommunications Authority has decided that public radio paging and mobile virtual network service operators will also be subject to the number fee after consultation with the industry.
"At the same time, the licence fee for each mobile station will also be reduced from $18 to $8 per annum. Overall, public radio paging and mobile virtual network service operators will therefore pay less in licence fees if they utilise the telecommunications numbers allocated to them more efficiently. To this end, OFTA has established a mechanism which enables the operators concerned to return idle numbers to OFTA," the spokesman said.
The new licence fee will be implemented with effect from June 1, 2009. This should allow sufficient lead-time for the public radio paging and mobile virtual network service operators to make the necessary preparations for the return of idle numbers to OFTA.
Ends/Friday, February 20, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:14
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