Carrie Yau, the Hong Kong Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, has revealed the identity of four bidders who have been successful in their applications for provisional 3G licences after the completion of the pre-qualification process of the 3G services auction.
Mrs Yau said the successful bidders are now well positioned to offer cutting edge 3G services and content. They will pay a five per cent royalty subject to a fixed minimum payment of HK$50 million per year for the next five years with rising minimum payments thereafter.
'We welcome the result of this exercise because both the number of licences and the price have been determined by the market,' declared Mrs Yau. 'Our auction design which aims to ease the financial burden for licensees is quite unprecedented. It is an efficient, fair and transparent way of awarding licences. We have achieved our objectives.'
The four successful bidders are: Hong Kong CSL Ltd., co-owned by Telstra and Pacific Century Cyberworks; Hutchison 3G HK Ltd., co-owned by Hutchison Whampoa and NTT DoCoMo Inc.; SmarTone 3G Ltd., wholly owned by SmarTone Telecoms Holdings; and Sunday 3G, wholly owned by Sunday Communications.
During a press conference this week, Mrs Yau was asked to comment on the proceeds of the 3G auction. She responded: 'Our primary aim of holding an auction was not to maximise government revenue. On the total proceeds, if you use a discount rate commonly adopted by market analysts, say 12.5 per cent, the income for government for issuing four licences is at least HK$1.9 billion, based on the minimum guaranteed payments government will receive.'
3G is the next generation of mobile telecommunications enabling total access via mobile phones to personalised multimedia services. The Hong Kong government is hoping that 3G technology will develop the telecoms industry in the jurisdiction and provide enormous opportunities for both network operators and providers of content and service applications. Small, innovative enterprises in particular should find great potential in the market.
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