Macau’s telecoms regulator has awarded LTE licences to the market’s existing mobile operators, leaving potential new entrants out in the cold.
Incumbent operator Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM), Hutchison Whampoa’s 3, SmarTone and China Telecom were all granted licences to roll out LTE services, the Bureau of Telecommunications Regulations (known locally as the DSRT) announced on Monday.
The regulator said it had also received applications from China Mobile and U Hong Comunicações.
The DSRT said it evaluated the applications according to specific criteria, including looking at the potential economic benefits to Macau and to its telecoms market. The existing players’ submissions came out on top.
The licence winners are required to launch commercial LTE services before the end of 2015.
The DSRT did not provide further details of the licences it awarded. However, when it opened the contest last year, it said that licensees would be required to cover 50% of Macau’s territory with LTE services during 2015 and the remainder in 2016.
The regulator also said licences would be valid for eight years and that licence holders would be required to pay 5% of their annual revenues to the government.
Macau, a special administrative region of China, covers around 30 square kilometres.
