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3G Mobile Phone Auction in HK Expected to Be Delayed
The third generation (3G) cellphone auction in Hong Kong may be delayed until summer 2001 if the government is pressed to release a third consultation paper, reported Hong Kong's English newspaper iMail November 15.
The auction will probably take place in the first half of 2001, the paper quoted a spokesperson for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) of Hong Kong as saying.
"But there could be a delay if we issue another consultation paper. It depends on how things go in the next two or three months," the spokesperson said.
Until Tuesday, OFTA had been signaling a first quarter 2001 date for the auction of licenses that let cellphone operators offer superfast wireless Internet services.
Legislators and phone companies this week rejected OFTA's plans for the 3G license auction and the framework for 3G service provision.
They asked OFTA to produce more details of the auction process and how its proposed "open network" system would actually work.
"In the coming few weeks we will review the submissions (to the second 3G consultation paper) before we will comment on the need for a third consultation paper," the OFTA spokesperson said.
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