📋 Tender Overview
The Office of the Communications Authority OFCA announced today July 24 the Communications Authoritys CA decision to grant prior consent to SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited SmarTone for its application to cease the provision of third generation mobile 3G services on October 9 2026
Having considered various relevant factors the CA approved the application pursuant to Special Condition 104 of SmarTones Unified Carrier Licence These include the very low proportion of customers affected including customers who are still using 3G handsetsdevices and those using older models of 4G handsetsdevices that only support the older version of VoLTE Note technology and SmarTones provision of support services for the affected customers such as offers to replace handsetsdevices For customers who choose not to replace their handsetsdevices and not to continue the service SmarTone will make reasonable service termination arrangements and provide them with sufficient advance notification and customer service support Moreover the CA has required SmarTone to maintain satisfactory 3G services until the scheduled service cessation date
Affected customers may refer to the relevant press release issued by SmarTone today or contact the company for details of the arrangements
With the phased shutdown of 3G mobile networks by individual mobile network operators OFCA takes this opportunity to call on customers of 3G service and those who are still using 3G handsetsdevices and older models of 4G handsets to upgrade their service plans and handsetsdevices In addition OFCA encourages members of the public to assist their family and friends especially the elderly in upgrading their services in order to experience better service quality and more advanced and diversified features provided by the newer generations of mobile services
At present 4G and 5G services are the mainstream mobile services globally and the 6G era will arrive in a few years Over 99 per cent of mobile service users in Hong Kong are now enjoying the mobile experience brought by 4G or 5G technologies To cope with the continued customer demand for more advanced mobile services mobile network operators cessation of their 3G services is in line with the global development trend They can redeploy the vacated radio spectrum and focus their resources in support of newer generations of mobile technologies
Note VoLTE Voice over Long Term Evolution LTE is a technology that enables voice calls to be made over a 4G LTE network instead of falling back to 2G or 3G networks
