Four of the five bidders in Hong Kong’s 4G auction secured spectrum, raising HK$1.54bn (US$200m), according to an announcement from the country’s telecoms regulator.
The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) said that four existing mobile…
Four of the five bidders in Hong Kong’s 4G auction secured spectrum, raising HK$1.54bn (US$200m), according to an announcement from the country’s telecoms regulator.
The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) said that four existing mobile operators successfully bid for a total of 50MHz of radio spectrum in the 2.5/2.6 GHz band at yesterday’s auction: China Mobile, CSL, Genius Brand and SmarTone.
As TelecomFinance reported last month, five telcos applied to participate in the auction, the fifth one being China Unicom.
A spokesperson from China Unicom told TelecomFinance today via email that it had failed to secure any spectrum because the bidding price was too high.
Genius Brand will pay HK$290m (US$37m), China Mobile will pay HK$300m (US$38.7m), CSL – a subsidiary of Australian telco Telstra – will pay HK$310m (US$40m) and SmarTone will pay a total of HK$640m (US$82.5m) for two frequency bands.
All successful bidders must pay the fee for the 15-year licence within 30 business days of the notice and must submit a performance bond, the announcement from OFCA added.
SmarTone said it will arrange for a bank in Hong Kong to issue a performance bond of HK$100m (US$12.9m), according to a statement on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“While all the provisional successful bidders in this spectrum auction are existing mobile network operators, the fact that a new entrant has participated in the spectrum auction demonstrates that even though the mobile telecommunications market in Hong Kong is extremely competitive, it continues to attract new investments,” said a spokesperson from OFCA in the regulator’s statement.
The spokesperson added that the spectrum fee is around 80% higher per MHz than it was at the auction of the same frequency band in January 2009, reflecting the increasing value of radio spectrum in the growing market.
