HKTV’s long-running bid to launch mobile TV service in Hong Kong was finally approved by the territory’s broadcast and telecoms regulator after the company led by Ricky Wong changed the transmission standard in its application.

The Communications Authority (CA) gave HKTV the green light to broadcast its mobile TV programming using the T2 Lite profile under the DVB-T2 standard. The company was assigned 8MHz of spectrum as part of the mobile TV licence.

A HKTV company representative said customers will be able to watch programmes in 4K on their phones and TV after setting up the specific receivers. However, the licence includes a number of limitations, the most significant being no more than 5,000 individual premises will be able to receive the service, Hong Kong newspaper The Standard reported.

HKTV’s initial bid was rejected by the CA in 2013 amid concerns the company planned to use the mobile service to offer free-to-air TV using the digital terrestrial multimedia broadcast (DTMB) standard, which is used by other free-to-air broadcasters.

The company acquired the mobile TV unit of China Mobile Hong Kong in 2013 and soon after launched its bid for a mobile TV licence.

Licence terms require HKTV to encrypt all TV signals to ensure its service can only be accessed by portable or mobile devices and receivers approved by the CA for reception of the service. The company also must notify CA at least one month before starting to use the DVB-T2 standard and demonstrate to the CA its compliance with all the licence conditions by conducting trials.