Re: 3g works in the most crowded places in HK, my Singtel and Starthub lines don't. W
That's the key word. Competition. Unlike Singapore's 'left hand vs right hand' pseudo competition.
in sg, lack of motivation and incentive for mobile operators to improve are also a by-product of the "ka-ki-nan" regulatory body in look-away mode. in hk, availability of spectrum and clout with regulatory body play a role in quality of the network. for example, china mobile hk which is owned by china mobile and 3 which is owned by hutchison have extra spectrum to play with and grow their respective networks, thus better coverage and better customer experience which lead to larger subscriber base. 4.2m for cmhk and 3.5m for 3. the 3rd operator, csl which merged with new world mobility, is not far behind with 3m subs. smartone and pccw are laggards at 1.6m and 1.5m subs respectively, and there's most likely pressure for the last 2 to merge. cmhk and 3 have additional spectrum in 2300 mhz for td-lte, and that will be huge for 4g td-lte roaming capabilities with the biggest mainland operator, china mobile. all have 1800 and 2600 mhz 4g fd-lte except for smartone which is limited to 1800 mhz. all are gsm, gprs, and 3g edge, umts and hspa compatible except for pccw and smartone which also operate 850 mhz cdma networks (not many subs in hk on this 3g tech). the sub distribution in hk among the top 3 operators looks very healthy and competitive, and with additional spectrum for growth, that's most likely what's driving the quality edge to retain existing customers and attract new customers.