Macau SAR government issues 5G licenses to two telecom operators

The Macao Special Administrative Region Gazette issued the Chief Executive’s instructions on November 7th, respectively approving Macau Telecom Co., Ltd. and China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. to establish and operate a fifth-generation ( 5G) technology public terrestrial mobile telecommunication network and the right to provide related public terrestrial mobile telecommunication services, the license is valid for eight years.

According to the instructions, the above two companies must build a 5G network system that can well cover half of Macau within 12 months from the date of issuance of the license, and provide commercial services; By sharing or sharing, the 5G network will be expanded to cover the entire territory of Macau.

Macau Telecom Co., Ltd. ("Macau Telecom") was established in October 1981. It is a leading integrated telecommunications service provider in Macau, providing professional telecommunications services such as mobile phones, fixed line phones, fiber optic broadband, and business solutions. , Macau Telecom has a number of stores to provide customers with various types of telecommunications product sales and a full range of customer service. The shareholders of CTM are CITIC Telecom International Group (99%) and Postal Savings (1%).

In 2023, the first year of the validity period of the 5G license, CTM plans to invest about 206 million patacas, and in the next four years (2024-2027), an additional investment of 815.2 million patacas One hundred thousand yuan. During the validity period of the first five years of the license, CTM has invested a total of MOP 1,021.2 million, mainly focusing on 5G network expansion, billing system and product platform upgrade.

The 5G wireless network adopts the most advanced wireless network technology, wireless equipment, and functions, and has detailed plans for the development of the spectrum in the next five years. If sufficient spectrum resources can be allocated according to the Macau Telecom spectrum plan in the future and with the support of 5G terminals, the download speed can be as high as possible. Up to 3Gbps, upload speed up to 700Mbps; optimal latency is 5ms. In addition, CTM will also consider deploying 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) for enterprise applications and solutions, which can support download speeds of up to 10Gbps and upload speeds of 1.7Gbps.

China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. was formerly known as China Unicom (Macau) Co., Ltd. On November 27, 2008, due to the restructuring of the telecommunications industry, China Unicom (Macau) Co., Ltd. officially changed its name to China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. The shareholders of China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. are China Telecom Co., Ltd. and China Telecom International Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 60 million patacas. On June 24, 2015, China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. obtained the license for "establishing and operating a public terrestrial mobile telecommunication network and providing public terrestrial mobile telecommunication services" and providing 4G services.

As the main investor in Macau's 5G network, China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. will build an internationally advanced 5G network in Macau and will invest about 469 million patacas in the network in the first five years after obtaining the license.

The 5G network of China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. plans to cover major hotspot areas in Macau in 2023 and plans to build no less than 198 base stations. It is expected that the network will meet the coverage rate of more than 50% and provide 5G high-speed Internet service experience in the coverage area. In 2024, the total number of sites will be no less than 223, achieving good coverage throughout the country.

China Telecom (Macau) Co., Ltd. estimates that when the 100MHz 3.5G frequency band can be used after the 5G network is opened, the download rate of the cell is up to 1.34Gbps, and the uplink rate of the cell is up to 140Mbps (depending on the actual network environment, client terminals, software applications) and other factors, customer usage perception may be different).