China Telecom Macau has launched 4G services in the market, and is boasting it has already achieved 95% outdoor coverage city-wide.
The operator secured a 4G license during the allocation earlier this year, and has committed to investing 260 million MOP ($32.6 million) in its network by the end of the year, Macau Business Dailyreported.
Each of the four winners of 4G licenses were instructed to launch services by the end of the year and achieve 100% network coverage next year. Rival CTM launched services in October and SmarTone launched services earlier this month.
But the report quotes China Telecom Macau assistant general manager Samuel Chan as stating that the company is under pressure over high operating costs surrounding 4G services, mainly due to the market's heavy leased line costs.
The operator is leasing lines from CTM and fixed-line operator MTEL to meet the requirement for mobile operators to use a leased line service to run their operations, but the high costs of doing so are giving the operator difficulties.
While the Macau government has expressed a desire to improve competition in the leased line market, no action has yet been taken.