Views are being sought on the proposed introduction of a Unified Carrier Licence, a new licensing regime to pave the way for fixed-mobile convergence in the telecommunications sector.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau today said with market and technological development, distinctions between fixed and mobile networks and services are increasingly blurred.

To ensure the city's regulatory environment remains conducive to innovative technologies and services, it plans to create a new unified licensing regime to facilitate timely deployment of new and innovative telecommunications services in Hong Kong.

The licence will allow incumbent operators and new market entrants to provide fixed, mobile and converged services under a streamlined and flexible single licence with common rights and obligations, irrespective of the types of services they provide.

The licence will be the single licensing vehicle regulating all kinds of fixed, mobile and converged telecommunications services. It will replace the four existing types of carrier licences - fixed, fixed (restricted), mobile and mobile (restricted) - upon expiry, and be issued to new applicants.

Existing operators can also apply to convert their licences to the new ones voluntarily.

Licence validity

The consultation paper proposes the licence period be 15 years, the same as existing carrier licences. It also proposes to align the level of licence fees to recover the cost of administering the licences and to encourage the efficient use of telephone numbers by operators.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority has issued a separate consultation paper covering the special conditions to be attached to the licences, the approaches for granting licences under different scenarios, and the migration arrangement of existing licences to the new licences.