The decision to delay the auction of 3G mobile telephone service to September was due to the longer time needed to pass the necessary legislation in the Legislative Council, she said.

The 3G licence auction can only be held after the necessary legislation is passed and gazetted, she said, adding "If everything goes well and smoothly, then the 3G auction will be held in September."

Carrie Yau, secretary for information technology and broadcasting bureau, was quoted by Chinese newspapers as saying that the delay was due to the longer-than-expected timetable to codify sub-rules for the 3G licences.

Yau said the government will not accept any further delay for the issue of the 3G licences, as a lot of developed countries have already issued their licences.

She said the postponement is unlikely to cause problems for the operators, as the 3G services will not be ready for commercial launch until next year.

The Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau controls the licence-issuing Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) which is reportedly not expecting to offer additional spectrum for 3G services before 2005.

In February, the government said it would issue four 3G mobile communications licences by mid-year, with a pre-qualification exercise followed by a spectrum auction.

Under the spectrum auction method of awarding licences, operators would also have to make royalty payments to the government based on a percentage of their revenue.

(China Daily 05/04/2001)