The Telecommunications Authority (TA) of Hong Kong said Monday that it will auction more frequencies in the fourth quarter of the year to enable the provision of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services in the city.

The Authority said that the spectrum to be auctioned will be the 2.3 GHz band and the 2.5 GHz band.

BWA is a radio access technology that can support a variety of wide area high-speed wireless data services. In addition to deployment as wireless backhaul links for fixed or mobile networks, the technology may also be used in customer access networks, such as direct access networks for mobile customers or broadband wireless local loops for fixed customers replacing the conventional copper wire.

"The release of the 2.3 GHz band and the 2.5 GHz band will allow the introduction of BWA services, facilitating the development of Hong Kong into an advanced wireless city," said a spokesman for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority.

The public will have wider choices of innovative services, including mobile broadband network services, so that they may have access to the Internet and multimedia services at affordable prices any time, anywhere and while on the move, he said.

This will be the third time that spectrum is subject to bidding in Hong Kong. The first occasion was in 2001 on the deployment of spectrum in the 1.9 - 2.2 GHz band for the provision of 3G services while the second was earlier this year on the 850 MHz band for the provision of the CDMA2000 services.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 4, 2007)