China Unicom eager for CDMA2000 auction in Hong Kong

May 12, 2004

China Unicom wants the issuing of the new CDMA license in Hong Kong to happen as soon as possible, noting that the current CDMA network is too old. The company is hoping to provide its users with data roaming in Hong Kong, Chairman and chief executive Wang Jianzhou said.

Hutchison Whampoa currently operates the CDMA network in the region. The firm has shifted its focused onto GSM and WCDMA while leaving CDMA under-invested in recent yeras. CDMA subscribers had reached 280,000 in 2000 but has since dropped to 40,000.

The Hong Kong telecom regulator Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) proposed in March not to renew Hutchison's CDMA license and auction the occupied spectrum with a CDMA2000 license. Hutchison objected to the proposal, saying that the OFTA had no right to withdraw its CDMA license and that a new mobile phone operator would hurt the already competitive and overcrowded industry in Hong Kong.

Wang said Hutchison's CDMA network was "too old" to allow data roaming. China Unicom is eager to capture mobile-roaming revenue, which accounted for as much as 20% of mobile operators' revenue in Hong Kong. China Unicom subscribers can already access data roaming in South Korea with the CDMA1X data card.

China Unicom said it expects to sell CDMA-GSM dual mode handsets in the middle of the year aimed at business clients and travellers.