ASIA Hong Kong : The CDMA Development Group congratulated the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) on announcing the plan to release spectrum through an open auction to enable the provision of CDMA2000(r) services in Hong Kong beginning November 2008. The auction is expected to be held in Q4 2007 when the OFTA will grant one license to a CDMA2000 operator in the standard 850 MHz band for voice and advanced broadband data services.

"We are very pleased with OFTA's decision," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "CDMA2000 leads the world in the availability and use of 3G mobile data services. Introducing CDMA2000 services in the 850 MHz band will enhance Hong Kong's status as a mobile services hub in Asia and will align the region with the spectrum allocation planning for CDMA2000 systems deployed in mainland China, throughout Asia and other parts of the world."

Currently, CDMA voice services and roaming are available in Hong Kong. However, this spectrum allocation will enable the provision of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO advanced broadband data services and international data roaming. Hong Kong will join nearby Macau, which has already launched CDMA2000 1X services and will soon introduce 1xEV-DO Rev A broadband data services, and mainland China, which is expected to award 3G licenses within the next 12 months.

Asia Pacific is the largest region for CDMA2000 with 63 commercial CDMA2000 1X and 13 1xEV-DO networks and nearly 150 million users, and CDMA2000 is expanding rapidly in the region, growing at 34 percent annually, fueled by the rapid subscriber growth in China and India.