Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) Director Derby Lau Wai Meng said yesterday that the government was still drafting a telecommunication bill to streamline its administrative procedures for the licensing of different telecom services with the aim of attracting more potential investors to the sector.
The government does not yet have a schedule as to when it will complete the drafting process, Lau said.
Lau made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the bureau’s Communications Museum (CMM) after attending a ceremony where her bureau presented awards to the winners of three competitions organised for school students in celebration of the museum’s 19th anniversary and the bureau’s 141st anniversary.
The three competitions were a writing contest for primary students, a scientific and artistic design contest for primary students, and a contest for secondary students to design and make electronic devices.
According to previous news reports, the government’s new telecommunication bill aims to establish a “quadruple play” system, which refers to a service model combining cable television, internet access, fixed line and mobile communication services together.
Some lawmakers and civic leaders have slammed the government for still having failed to establish a “quadruple play” system after proposing it many years ago.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Lau said that the government’s ongoing efforts to reform the city’s telecommunication sector comprises two main components, namely the drafting of its new telecommunication bill, and the liberalisation of the use of telecom concession assets.
Lau said that the bill is still being discussed and drafted, adding that one of the government’s current proposals to be included in the bill is to streamline its administrative procedures for licence applications and the issuing of such licences for different telecom services, such as expanding the scope of telecom services to be covered by a streamlined process where the government can issue licences after receiving applications from potential operators without having to launch a public tender.
Lau said that this proposal aimed to attract more potential investors to Macau’s telecom sector.
Under an application-based system for issuing licences for telecom services without launching a public tender, there would be no specific number of the maximum number of operators, for which, Lau underlined, the government would ensure the balanced development of the market with the aim of preventing unhealthy competition.
After several extensions, the government’s concession asset agreement with telecom operator CTM was initially scheduled to expire in September last year, but it was then extended again, this time for one more year, because of which it is now slated to expire on September 30 this year, when the assets are slated to revert to the government.
The existing agreement authorises CTM to continue exclusively manage the city’s telecom concession assets.
Macau’s other telecom service providers are paying CTM to use its telecom concession assets.
Lau said that the government was now assessing and sorting out CTM’s concession assets, adding that the government was studying the ways on how the city’s telecom service providers could pay to use the assets in a fair way after the agreement expires.
Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) Director Derby Lau Wai Meng speaks to reporters at the Communications Museum (CMM), located on D. Maria II Hill, yesterday.
A schoolgirl, one of the winners of the writing contest for primary students, reads out her “letter written to Santa Claus” during yesterday’s ceremony. – Photos: Tony Wong
Still 10,000 users of 3G
Meanwhile, Lau also revealed that currently there are still about 10,000 users of 3G services in Macau.
There will be no more 3G services in Macau from early June this year as no telecom operators applied for the renewal of their 3G licences.
Lau said that the about 10,000 users include individuals and companies, adding that some of them are inactive users.
Lau underlined that her bureau has told the respective telecom operators to ensure that their existing 3G customers can smoothly switch to other services.
Macau currently has three telecom operators running mobile telecommunications services, CTM, China Telecom (Macau), and Hutchison Telephone (Macau), after SmarTone (Macau) announced in August last year the cessation of its services in Macau.
However, only CTM and China Telecom are running 5G services in Macau, while Hutchison Telephone is only running 4G services here.
The government said early this year that all SmarTone customers had switched to CTM by then. Consequently, SmarTone, the service cessation of which will formally take effect on June 5 this year, currently does not have any customers in service.
Lau also underlined yesterday that CTM will employ all the affected SmarTone staff opting to make the switch.
