Macau's Telecommunications Regulation Bureau (DSRT) said earlier this week that the results of the bids for 4G mobile phone services will be announced in the first quarter of next year, stressing that the charge per unit of data usage for the 4G service will be cheaper than the 3G service.
The bureau also said that it will come up with guidelines of how 4G mobile phone service providers will have to compensate their customers at a “minimum rate” when there is a “serious breakdown” of their system.
Horry Hoi Chi Leong, the acting director of the bureau, made the remarks during a press conference which he hosted to announce details of the government’s plan to issue four licenses for providers of 4G mobile services.
Hoi said that both local and non-local companies are welcome to bid for one of the four licenses, pledging that the bureau will analyze the tenders “objectively.”
“We believe [the issuing of the] four licenses should benefit the market…not because there are four telecom operators [in Macau],” Hoi said, adding he believes that the providers of the 4G mobile services will offer “competitive prices.”
“As [users of 4G mobile services] will use more data …relatively speaking the fees will be lower [than those for 3G]. From the technological aspect …the charge for each unit of data usage will be cheaper than 3G,” Hoi said, adding that the 4G charges will eventually be decided by the four operators.
Hoi also said that the bureau would finish analyzing all the bids within two or three months after receiving them.