Macau-based MTel Telecommunication Company Limited hosted a Spring Festival dinner yesterday for the media at L’Arc Hotel in Nape, where MTel Chairman and CEO Michael Choi Tak Meng made three recommendations for the development of the local telecommunication Industry.
Regarding the government’s ongoing drafting of a telecommunication bill, Choi suggested in a speech that the unique characteristics of Macau’s micro-economy should be taken into consideration to balance competition with market efficiency, thereby avoiding excessively high operational costs that could force operators to withdraw from the market.
Concerning the use of utility tunnels, Choi said that the tunnel fees charged in Zone A were “too high” and, consequently, increasing operational costs. Choi called on the government to clarify the rights and responsibilities of Macau’s telecom concessionaires and to reach a consensus on the fees.
According to Wikipedia, a utility tunnel is a tunnel in a city that brings together various pipelines that were originally laid separately, such as municipal, power, communication, gas, water supply, and drainage pipelines.
In terms of the use of concessionary assets, Choi said that both the entry barriers and the associated costs were “too high”, resulting in a lack of successful applications by enterprises to date. Choi urged the authorities to optimise the mechanism and lower the barriers to enable more efficient sharing of infrastructure.
In Macau’s telecommunication industry, concessionary assets primarily refer to the basic network infrastructure were previously managed by CTM, the city’s main telecom operator, such as underground ducts, manholes, and junction boxes. According to a Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) statement last year, aiming to promote fair competition, ownership of these assets and their related investments was officially transferred from CTM to the local government on October 1 last year.
Meanwhile, Choi also said that in 2025, his company collaborated with entities in the Chinese mainland on several research projects and successfully secured joint funding from the local and central governments. Joint laboratories were established with Zhejiang Province’s Yongjiang Laboratory (Y-LAB) and Wuhan Yangtze Optical Technology Co. Ltd. (YOTC) last year.
Choi also mentioned that last year his company organised technical staff to obtain instructor certifications in AI-generated content, aiming to build a talent pool for long-term development.
Choi told reporters that this year, his company will continue to focus on the development of AI, pointing out that an agreement has been reached with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Shaoguan) Data Centre, which is responsible for the national integrated computing power network’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) national hub node. Choi added that a direct connection line has also been set up with the centre, which will assist MTel in launching services in Macau that deeply integrate AI technology with various industries.
MTel Chairman and CEO Michael Choi Tak Meng addresses yesterday’s Spring Festival dinner for the media at L’Arc Hotel in Nape. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
