Gov’t to roll out 4G in 2015

Hoi Chi Leong, director of the Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT), announced yesterday that the government intends to provide 4G mobile services to Macau residents in 2015. He added that, at present, the bureau is in the process of studying the legislative procedures needed to meet such a goal.
Last month, Hoi Chi Leong said that the 4G mobile services could be up and running as soon as the end of this year, or in 2015. At the time, he added that it was taking some time to roll out the 4G services, because the Bureau needed to analyze the requisite laws for the issue of respective licenses.
During a visit to the Green Island building complex held yesterday, Hoi Chi Leong said that the government “is still assessing the legislative process.” Therefore, they hope that these mobile services will be up and running by next year.
He reiterated that, by offering 4G services, “a whole new telecommunications market will be opened” in Macau, which means that there will be “significant change.”
Hoi Chi Leong did not provide a concrete date for the launch of a public tender. He stressed that there are already two service providers interested in bidding for the 4G market.
Last month, he also unveiled the bureau’s plan to provide network-testing plans for residents to experiment with 4G services.
In April, the Macau government created a publicly owned company to ensure the relay of free-to-air broadcasts, including a package comprising 49 basic TV channels, using a MOP10-million budget for the first year.
The public antenna companies – which had always been accused by Macau Cable TV of illegally airing copyright-protected programs – are now responsible for continuing to deliver signals to residents’ homes. Meanwhile, CTM assists by providing 34 signal access points across the territory, using underground cables.
Yesterday’s visit also served to show that a recently installed signal access point allows residents of the Green Island building complex, located in Ilha Verde, to have access to TV services. This is one of the signal access points that will be installed in recently constructed buildings, which means that public housing complexes built in recent years will have the same type of equipment.
Hoi Chi Leong revealed that the government is committed to removing all overhead cables – which over the years have been installed by public antenna companies – and to replacing them with underground cables. They plan to put an end to overhead cables in the whole territory within three years, replacing them with underground equipment.
“We hope to improve this situation within three years. We are proceeding with the necessary works to replace the overhead cables. For instance, by August, we will install another two signal access points [using underground cables] in Largo da Sé and Rua Abreu Nunes,” Hoi Chi Leong revealed.
He stressed that these works will not have a negative impact on the current transmission of TV signals to residents.
Nevertheless, Hoi Chi Leong admitted that the matter of the overhead cables is a complex one. “It is very complicated because there were a lot of public antenna companies in Macau, [and therefore a lot of cables]. So these works are quite complex.”
Last year, the government commissioned a study on the future of TV services, which was to be conducted by a group of University of Macau scholars. Hoi Chi Leong did not elaborate as to whether or not the report has been completed, or when it would be released. He told reporters that the government would have further information regarding this issue in the near future.