CTM launching 4G service on October 20

Local telecommunications operator Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau SARL (CTM) announced yesterday that it is to officially launch its 4G mobile communication (LTE) service on October 20.
“The reason we chose October 20 is to let our customers try [the service] before the official launch so that we can improve out network.
In addition, it is the 34th anniversary of CTM,” CEO Vandy Poon Fuk Hei told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of the company’s new 4G concept store yesterday.
CTM also kicked off the 4G trial service for its customers from yesterday. The CEO claimed that nearly 10,000 of its customers have already registered for the trial service.
In addition, Mr. Poon revealed that the government has already approved CTM’s initial 4G service fee.
Yesterday morning, the director of the Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT), Hoi Chi Leong, told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th Asia Pacific Telecommunication and ICT Development Forum that the Bureau has approved the 4G service fees submitted by one operator, and is evaluating those of two other operators, while the other has not yet submitted its proposed service fee.
Besides CTM, the other three operators that were granted the 4G service licences are China Telecom (Macau), Hutchison Telephone Macau, known as 3Macau, and SmarTone.
4G not more expensive
According to the DSRT head yesterday, 4G service fees per data unit will be cheaper than the current 3G service fee, with the CTM CEO also telling reporters that “the 4G service for sure will not be more expensive than the 3G service.”
“For the same data usage, the charges of the 4G service should be lower than 3G. In addition, we also have an unlimited data plan for customers… But prices will vary depending upon the packages customers choose,” Mr.
Poon claimed.
According to both Bureau director and CTM CEO, the city’s 4G service operators will all provide a capping charge of MOP500 on customers for overuse data.

Hoi: Co-ordinating MTel to build network
On the other hand, the government official said his Bureau is trying its best to help the city’s new fixed-line telecommunications service provider MTel Telecommunication Company Ltd.
construct its network.
The operator complained last month that it was facing delays in meeting the network coverage set by the government due to the authorities barely approving the company’s applications for network construction that involves road works.
Mr. Hoi claimed yesterday that network building is complicated and co-ordination will take time. However, he said the government has re-opened parts of MTel’s underground network construction.
Moreover, the director said the government has co-ordinated MTel for peering with CTM, believing the two fixed-line operators should not have any problem in bilateral peering, which allows the networks of the two companies to interconnect for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the users of each company.
MTel claimed recently that it had encountered difficulties when peering with the CTM network.
CTM CEO Vandy Poon said yesterday that his company had received a letter from MTel regarding the issue, claiming his company will try to look into what difficulties MTel has encountered. “After all, as a new operator there may be some issues that they cannot handle,” he indicated.