The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) in Hong Kong has concluded its auction of spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands. The sale had a hybrid format which reassigned 2×10MHz to each of the territory’s four cellcos, while auctioning off a further 120MHz across the two bands, comprising 50MHz at 900MHz and 70MHz at 1800MHz.
All four incumbents took part in the auction, which raised a total of HKD6 billion (USD767 million). On top of the 20MHz assigned to each operator, the remaining 120MHz was allocated as follows: HKT 40MHz, China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) 30MHz, SmarTone 30MHz and Hutchison Telecom 20MHz. The reassignment of frequencies was carried out to pre-empt the expiry of existing licences in 2020/21. The new concessions will run from 15 years from the start date and will be used to maintain current 2G services while also helping to reinforce 4G networks.