HK Government spends HK$200m into Wi-Fi facilities

The government would invest more than HK$200 million in Wi-Fi facilities to provide free access for the public, Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan has announced.

The Wi-Fi facilities would be installed in government premises such as libraries, community centres and parks over the next two years.

Mrs Lau was discussing plans to further the development of information and communications technology (ICT) in Hong Kong at the Opening Ceremony of Digital Lifestyle Forum late on Thursday.

She said the government would also help the industry extend wireless networks in other areas. It would do this by allowing the provision of networks at public facilities – such as bridges and lamp-posts, at nominal rent, she explained.

“Apart from our existing 3G networks that could provide high-speed connections to light-weight and highly mobile devices, we consider that the introduction of broadband wireless access [BWA] services in Hong Kong would provide additional capacity to support advanced applications and wireless Internet access.

“We will finalise spectrum allocation and licensing arrangements next year,” she added.

Mrs Lau noted that Hong Kong’s creative industries were playing an increasingly important role in the economy. She said this development was needed to “accelerate in the next five years if the city was to maintain its leading position” in the region.

The commerce secretary commended the city’s creative industries for its “uniqueness and advanced position” as it “demonstrates Hong Kong people are creative and innovative”.

But Mrs Lau said it still had to be mindful about information security and data privacy.

“In this connection, I would like to point out that while we are going to further the development of creative industries including the digital lifestyle concept ... we must ensure that information security will be an ingredient embedded into it.”