Telecommunications Regulation Bureau (DSRT) Acting Director Horry Hoi Chi Leong said this week that his bureau will start drafting regulations on the city’s future “triple play service” next year, which will be expected to get off the ground in three years time.
Hoi made the remark yesterday after the opening ceremony of the “17th Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Wireless Group,” at Sands Cotai Central.
“Triple play service” is an integrated service of telecommunications, Internet and TV.
Macau’s pay-TV market was liberalized on April 22, before which Macau Cable TV (MCTV) was the monopoly concessionaire. Currently, the pay-TV market is only provided by MCTV – with which the government signed a “non-monopolistic” five-year contract in April.
Residents are now able to watch about 50 basic TV channels free of charge, which are provided by the government-funded Macau Basic Television Channels Limited and transmitted to residents through the city’s antenna companies.
The government is making the transition from the current TV service to a “triple play service”, which the government expects to get off the ground in three years time.
Hoi said his bureau had recently received the final report about Macau’s long-term TV service from the University of Macau (UM). He said that the UM report makes some suggestions such as how many TV operators should be in the market and how the TV market should be run in the long term.
Hoi said the government would decide how the future “triple play” TV market will be run after studying the UM report.
Hoi said that while the “triple play service” network would be ready in three years time, his bureau would start drafting regulations about the service next year.