China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) has launched an exchange platform that allows 4G users to buy and sell mobile data from each other.
CMHK said the 2cm (2nd exchange market) platform enables the cellco’s 4G Pro customers to set prices and trade their own data with each other. Users who expect to have spare capacity on their data plan can sell to those who need more via the 2cm platform.
Data can be traded in units of 1GB and each customer can set their own price per unit, between HK$15 ($1.93) to HK$60, and the platform will automatically match sellers and buyers. Extra data bought can only be used during the same billing month, the company said.
CMHK will charge data sellers an administration fee of HK$15 for each gigabyte of data, but to lure customers is waving the fee until March 31.
To cope with the launch of the 2cm platform, CMHK is upgrading part of its 1800-MHz spectrum for LTE to provide better 4G network coverage, chief executive Sean Lee said. The company is also deploying LTE at the 2600-MHz band for infrastructure expansion projects on the city’s MTR (mass transit railway) line, the first of the city’s operator to do so.
The 2600-MHz network is expected to be available from Hong Kong to Kowloon station by mid-February 2014, and will be extended to other MTR stations in the coming year. Lee said the network is two to three times faster than 1800-MHz, and can reach 86-Mbps on a moving train.
CMHK launched a converged TD-LTE and FDD/LTE network on the 2300- and 2600-MHz spectrum in the city last year. With these network upgrades, Lee said the company is “well-positioned to become the city’s only carrier to operate a “dual mode, tri-band [1800-/2300-/2600-MHz” 4G network.”