Transport officials and network operators are still nowhere near an agreement to offer real-time images of road conditions to 3G mobile phone users after three years of negotiations, the government's transport chief said yesterday. Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung told a Legislative Council meeting an agreement had not been reached because the government and the operators had different concerns. 'We hope members of the public can have free access to the latest [traffic] images ... but the operators have their own concerns. Their charges often change due to rapid technological development and market needs,' Dr Liao said. The government has offered to provide operators with CCTV images of road conditions at cost if they do not charge subscribers additional fees. But it is still waiting for replies. 'If network operators agree not to charge any additional fees for providing timely traffic information to their subscribers, things will be much simpler. We can just follow the arrangement we have with the mass media,' she said. The Transport Department now provides CCTV images free of charge to television stations on the condition that they will not charge subscribers additional fees. Dr Liao said that if mobile network operators charged subscribers, they would have to share the earnings with the government. The Transport Department has also discussed providing emergency traffic information in text messages.