Telecoms regulator to ensure Hong Kong keeps apace in 5G race
The government’s allocation of new spectrum for 5G services rigidly adheres to global pacts on frequency bands and universal standard set for 2019 and 2020
The Hong Kong government is looking to swiftly assign spectrum for 5G services as soon as an international agreement is reached on the frequency bands and universal standard for this advanced mobile system.
“The greatest challenge ahead for Hong Kong is to remain at the forefront of bringing new technologies and new services,” Eliza Lee Man-ching, the city’s director-general of communications, told the South China Morning Post.
Unfazed by recent criticism from mobile network operators about the government’s spectrum management policy, Lee pointed out that Hong Kong led the introduction of 3G and 4G mobile services.
“So the question we often ask our mobile network operators is this: Why would you be worried that Hong Kong will not be in the fast lane for 5G services?” she said.
Known as the latest advance in mobile communications, 5G is expected to support 1 million connected devices per square kilometre; 1 millisecond latency, or the amount of time a packet of data takes to get from one point to another; higher energy and spectral efficiency; and up to 20 gigabits per second of peak data download rate for each cell site.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations agency overseeing development of the IMT-2020 standard for 5G technologies, is spearheading so-called spectrum harmonisation – the uniform allocation of radio frequency bands around the world – for the provision of 5G services.