Platform Wiki: Telecom

As the word “ubiquitous” means existing everywhere, the uIS (ubiquitous information society) describes a better connected ICT environment in which its high-speed broadband networks are linked with various applications, such as smart electronic devices (from PCs, notebooks, mobile phones and PDAs to vending machines, refrigerators and other appliances), digital homes, location-based services, car navigation systems and other information and sensor appliances connecting people with one another, people with goods and services, and goods with other goods, without restrictions of time and space. 4

Hong Kong has made great some progress toward this vision in the last ten years, but more needs to be done. Our wireless city initiative has taken a late start with GovWiFi since last year, but the private sector rollout of wireless services in the open public areas of Hong Kong has been hampered by bureaucracy. Location-based services are lagging behind because of the lack of centralized location information from the Government. And there are little progress made in promoting the use of next-generation Internet technologies including IPv6.

In order to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness in information infrastructure, I will:

* Organize a Tripartite Summit between Government, industry and users to expedite the coordination of a progressive Wireless City Strategy 2010 for Hong Kong, with the objective of accomplishing a truly ubiquitous environment of access via any network, any device, any data, any time and anywhere; * Monitor Government progress in GovWiFi rollout, and the coordination with wireless network service providers to open up access of public facilities such as lampposts and street signs, as promised by the Government in 2007, in order to provide more convenient services to citizens; * Work with the telecommunications industry to reflect the concerns over the auctioning of spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), and the future licensing for various services including Mobile TV; * Push for a timetable for the realization of the merger of the telecommunications and broadcasting regulatory bodies to form the new Communications Authority, and the subsequent legislative reform, which must maintain the pro-competition, technology-neutral and content-neutral stance of the telecommunications authority, for the healthy future development of the communications sector in Hong Kong, and this cannot be hampered by uncertainties and delays; * Urge Government or an assigned neutral body to explore the technological, privacy and security issues concerning the establishment of an easily accessible database that keeps track of the locations of the WLAN access points, so that solution providers and application builders use this database to provide useful location-based services; * Propose the opening of an IPv6 development and coordination center, with funding support for the industry and academia to establish test networks, develop and test applications, and promote the adoption of the Internet Transition Plan (RFC 5211) proposed and supported by Internet veterans 5 ; * Push for the realization of the actions in response to China's 11 th Five Year Plan in the ICT areas as proposed by Government in 2006, including the support for the technology sector in Hong Kong to increase its participation in global technological standards and governance bodies, including the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), IETF etc. in the Internet area; * Continue to lobby Government for the realization of yet another action proposed by Government itself in 2006 in response to China's 11 th Five Year Plan, concerning the facilitation in land policies to establish Hong Kong as a hub of Internet data center – including the relaxation of use of land and facilities under the administration of HKSTP; * Monitor the reform of the .hk ccTLD (country-code top-level domain) administration to ensure an open, transparent, progressive and pro-competition transition to a better governance structure; * Call for the adoption of a more defined and concrete timetable and a progressive and pro-competition regulatory regime for the rollout of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services

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