3G Telephone in Macau this October

Written on May 22, 2006 by a2zMacau

May 22, 2006 - The Macau government plans to license three 3G licenses this coming October. In a press conference, Tou Veng Keong, coordinator of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Development Office launched the tender document and set a six month deadline for awarding the licenses. A fourth 3G license could be offered within 2 years if the market will support this.

Macau’s newspaper Tribuna de Macau said in Tuesday’s edition that China Unicom and SmartTone had already stated their interest in obtaining a 3G license in this tender.

Macao is formally a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China who’s chief executive is appointed by the People’s Republic of China’s central government after election by an election committee, whose members are nominated by corporate and community bodies.
Macau’s economy is based largely on tourism, namely gambling. Traffic from Hong Kong rose sharply when the Macau telecoms landline ringtone was changed to match that used in Hong Kong allowing “gentlemen” from Hong Kong to pretend to be working at the office, when in fact partying in Macau.

From 9.1 million in 2000, arrivals to Macau has grown to 18.7 million in 2005 [1], with over 50% of the arrivals coming from mainland China. This recent growth has been driven by gambling and related tourism. Tourists from Hong Kong remain numerous, representing about 30% of arrivals.
Macau currently has three GSM networks, and one CDMA network operated solely for roaming purposes by China Unicom. The Mobile World database notes that the dependency currently has just over 530,000 registered subscribers, which represents a 118% penetration rate, although this figure will be distorted by frequent travelers purchasing a local handset.