Gov’t to ensure smooth ICT operations if city enters grid lockdown

If Macau enters a grid lockdown under a Covid-19 outbreak, seamless services of information and communication technologies (ICTs) will be ensured, Lau Wai Meng, director of Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT), has said.

A grid lockdown is a relatively new arrangement for Macau, but is quite familiar in mainland China. Under the arrangement, the city would be separated into coordinates and lockdowns would only be conducted within specific coordinates.

The CTT director admitted that under grid lockdown, telecom services will see a heavy workload. The bureau will remain in contact with service providers to ensure the reliability of the service.

In fact, when people are under lockdown, it is foreseeable that they will spend more time using the internet. They may conduct heavy-traffic tasks such as video streaming. Meanwhile, health agencies may need to contact people using video calls or conference technologies.

As a result, “service providers will be reminded to maintain sufficient bandwidth to [facilitate necessary services],” Lau added.

In addition, she pointed out that, under a grid lockdown, people would be restricted to point-to-point commuting between work and home. The CTT will ensure that sufficient resources are mobilized to provide stable services, such as pinpointing sites of malfunction and repairing them within the shortest possible period.

When an area is under lockdown, the delivery of mail may not be possible. On this matter, the CTT director said it would be considered as per the actual situation at the time.

Yesterday also saw the CTT organize the celebration for the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (World Telecom Day). The celebration was held in the form of a ceremony with a seminar afterwards.

During her speech, Lau pointed out that the theme of this year’s World Telecom Day, as determined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), was digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing.

She added that by determining such a topic, the ITU aimed to encourage the use of digital technologies to support people to retain mental and physical health, as well as mutual contacts.

Lau highlighted that following this theme, local telecom service providers had also started to provide accessible technologies to groups of senior citizens so that they will be able to reap these benefits.