The Macau government issued 5G licences with eight-year terms to CTM and China Telecom Macau, requiring the two to cover 50 per cent of the territory in the first year and deliver full coverage within 18 months.

CTM VP of commercial Ebel Cham stated it created a number of 5G plans and planned to launch its service on 14 November after completing a number of procedures with the government.

Thomas Ng, VP of network services at CTM, claimed it achieved full indoor and outdoor coverage using non-standalone and standalone 5G in 2021, with a peak download rate of 1.6Gb/s in tests.

China Telecom Macau and CTM were the only operators to make bids for the licences.

SmarTone and 3 Macau, owned by Hutchison Telecom, declined to participate.

The licences require a one-time charge of MOP100,000 ($12,368) and an annual operating fee of 5 per cent of gross service income, The Macau News reported.