Embracing the New 5G Era
“Embracing the New 5G Era” is a thematic website which aims to enhance public understanding on how the fifth generation (5G) mobile technology will change our means of communications and enable the development of various innovative applications. This website also introduces the preparatory and ongoing facilitating work carried out by the Communications Authority (CA) and the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) for the development of 5G services in Hong Kong.
Supply of new spectrum for provision of 5G services in Hong Kong
Timely supply of radio spectrum to the industry is a major focus of CA’s work to facilitate the continued development of 5G services in Hong Kong.
Since 2019, CA has assigned a total of 3 330 MHz of radio spectrum in low, mid and high frequency bands, namely 700 MHz, 3.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands for public mobile telecommunications use, including the provision of 5G services. In order to meet the needs of various 5G applications in terms of speed, capacity and coverage, CA continued to release more new spectrum in different frequency bands to the market. In March 2024, CA announced its decision to assign a total of 400 MHz of spectrum in the 6/7 GHz band by way of auction for the provision of public mobile services. CA will conduct the auction in November 2024, and assign the spectrum before the end of first quarter of 2025. Under the technology-neutral approach in spectrum assignment, MNOs can also freely refarm the spectrum previously assigned to them for 5G use.
Details of the spectrum in different frequency bands released for the provision of public 5G services in Hong Kong and the corresponding progress of 5G spectrum release in other advanced economies are illustrated in the table below:
Summary of Assignment Arrangements for 5G Spectrum in Various Frequency Bands
Note:
[1] Any use within the restriction zone of Stanley shall comply with the relevant guidelines and directions issued by CA.
[2] Out of the total 160 MHz of spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band, 80 MHz of spectrum has been put into use since December 2019 while the remaining 80 MHz of spectrum has been put into use since December 2021.
[3] CA will conduct an auction for the spectrum in the 6/7 GHz band in November 2024 and to assign the spectrum before the end of the first quarter of 2025.
[4] The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in June 2023 that the whole or part of the 6425 – 7125 MHz band would be identified for use of International Mobile Telecommunications systems and services in the Mainland with effect from 1 July 2023.
[5] Three spectrum assignees are required to comply with the network and service rollout obligations within 9 years from the date of spectrum assignment in April 2019 while one spectrum assignee is required to comply with the network and service rollout obligations within 5 years from the date of spectrum assignment in August 2024.
Launch of 5G
Further to the successful assignment of the first batch of 5G spectrum in 2019/2020, commercial 5G services were launched in Hong Kong in April 2020. By June 2024, the subscription of 5G services reached almost 7.26 million. The existing 5G coverage in Hong Kong has reached over 96% of the population, covering all the major business districts, shopping centres and local Mass Transit Railway stations.
Additional Spectrum for 5G
The CA will continue to keep abreast of worldwide development trends in telecommunications and monitor spectrum planning at international and regional levels, with a view to ensuring timely release of suitable spectrum to meet the needs of emerging radiocommunications services and to facilitate the on-going development of public 5G mobile and other innovative services in Hong Kong.
28 GHz: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, US
28 GHz: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, US
Note:
[1] Any use within the restriction zones of Tai Po and Stanley shall comply with the relevant guidelines and directions issued by the CA.
[2] Out of the total 160 MHz of spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band, 80 MHz of spectrum has been put into use since December 2019 while the remaining 80 MHz of spectrum has been put into use since December 2021.
[3] The CA targets to conduct an auction for the spectrum in the 6/7 GHz band before the end of 2024 and to assign the spectrum before the end of the first quarter of 2025.
[4] The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in June 2023 that the whole or part of the 6425 – 7125 MHz band would be identified for use of International Mobile Telecommunications systems and services in the Mainland with effect from 1 July 2023.
[5] On 29 February 2024, the CA invited application from the industry for administrative assignment of the remaining 2 500 MHz of non-shared spectrum in the bands for the provision of large scale public mobile services.
Launch of 5G
Further to the successful assignment of the first batch of 5G spectrum in 2019/2020, commercial 5G services were launched in Hong Kong in April 2020. By December 2023, the subscription of 5G services reached almost 6.53 million. The existing 5G coverage in Hong Kong has reached over 90% of the population, covering all the major business districts, shopping centres and local Mass Transit Railway stations.
Additional Spectrum for 5G
The CA will continue to keep abreast of worldwide development trends in telecommunications and monitor spectrum planning at international and regional levels, with a view to ensuring timely release of suitable spectrum to meet the needs of emerging radiocommunications services and to facilitate the on-going development of public 5G mobile and other innovative services in Hong Kong.
Facilitating mobile network operators (MNOs) and other interested parties to conduct 5G trials
To facilitate the telecommunications industry to deploy 5G technologies effectively, OFCA has been actively encouraging and supporting the telecommunications industry to conduct various trials for 5G radio transmissions and technology applications since 2017. OFCA has been issuing trial permits with free of charge and short-term assignment of 5G spectrum in various frequency bands to MNOs and other interested parties for the conduct of technical tests using 5G radio equipment. The test results are published for public information and made available at 'Technical Reports' on the OFCA website.
Facilitating base station and
small cell installation
Similar to the development of 3G and 4G networks and services in the past, MNOs have to progressively install a large number of 5G radio base stations and small cells in various districts of Hong Kong, in order to provide 5G network coverage and capacity to support very high-speed data transmission and more diversified mobile services.
OFCA endeavours to provide necessary assistance to MNOs to facilitate their installation of base stations at government buildings and public facilities.
In parallel, OFCA will continue to ensure that the level of non-ionizing radiation of base stations and small cells are in compliance with internationally recognised safety standards and limits.
