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The Media, Communications and Information Technology
Mobile Communications Services
Four mobile network operators provide second generation (2G), third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) services in the city. As at December 2014, there were over 17.37 million subscribers to mobile communications services, representing a population penetration of 239 per cent, one of the highest in the world. The number of 3G/4G users continued to rise and reached 12.66 million in December 2014. Mobile data services are available at downlink speeds of up to 300 Mbps using Long Term Evolution technology. The World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2014 ranked Hong Kong first among 148 economies in mobile network coverage.
With the increasing popularity of smart phones, the monthly mobile data usage reached 15,860 Terabytes (15,859,608 Gigabytes) in December 2014, representing 1.31 times the monthly usage. over the same period in 2013. On average, each 2.5G/3G/4G mobile user used 1,244.1 Megabytes per month.
Following the CA's 2013 decision to re-assign 118.4 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in the 1.9 - 2.2 GHz band (currently deployed for provision of 3G mobile services) upon the expiry of existing assignments in October 2016, all the incumbent spectrum assignees accepted in August 2014 the right of first refusal to be re-assigned 69.2 MHz of the spectrum. The remaining 49.2 MHz was put to auction in December 2014. The whole 118.4 MHz of the spectrum will be assigned to the incumbent spectrum assignees and successful bidders as the case may be on 22 October 2016, following their payment of the spectrum utilisation fee.
Fixed Communications Services
The local fixed communications services market is fully liberalised and there is no preset limit on the number of licences that can be issued, nor any deadline for the submission of applications. By the end of 2014, there were 21 local fixed telephone network licensees, providing 102 telephone fixed-lines or internet telephone services per 100 households, one of the highest in the world. As a result of the government's policy to promote facility-based competition in the local fixed services market, 86.9 per cent and 78.8 per cent of residential households enjoyed a choice of at least two or three self-built local fixed customer access networks respectively as at March 2014.
Fixed Broadband Services
Hong Kong has one of the world's most advanced fixed broadband network infrastructures and a high household fixed broadband penetration rate of 83.2 per cent. According to internet content delivery provider Akamai's 'State of the Internet 3rd Quarter, 2014 Report, Hong Kong has the world's fastest broadband, with an average peak connection speed of 84.6 Mbps.
Hong Kong comes third in global ranking in deploying an optical fibre access network, according to information published in February 2014 by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe. As at December 2014, the OFCA's voluntary building registration scheme recorded about 13,600 fibre-to-the-building or fibre-to-the-home residential buildings, covering about 83 per cent of Hong Kong households. The corresponding number of non-residential buildings registered under the scheme was over 1,300.
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