The company is a mobile phone operator in Hong Kong. It provides service on GSM-900, GSM-1800, W-CDMA and LTE-2600 with the brand SmarTone. The holding company of the SmarTone group, SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited, is 70.98% owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties. SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings is incorporated in Bermuda as an offshore company. SmarTone Mobile Communications is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings, via SmarTone Limited. SmarTone-Comunicações Móveis, S.A., or known as SmarTone Macau, is 72% owned by SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings indirectly.
History
SmarTone was launched by Sun Hung Kai Properties and ABC Communications in 1992. It started operations in March 1993 as the first GSM network in Hong Kong and in Asia. It used to have another branding EXTRA for its GSM-1800-only packages obtained by the acquisition of P Plus Communications in March 1998. The brand EXTRA ended in 2002 and was merged into SmarTone's dual-band network. A new branding "SmarTone-Vodafone" was officially launched in April 2005, following a partnership agreement with Vodafone in December 2004. This brand name was used only in Hong Kong. SmarTone retained its original brand name in Macau. On 19 September 2011, SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited announced that it would not renew its marketing co-operation with Vodafone and reverted its brand to SmarTone from December 2011.
March 1993 – Launched Asia's first GSM mobile service
December 1993 – Launched Asia's first auto-GSM roaming service
December 2002 – Launched SmarTone iN! – Proprietary advanced multimedia services mobile portal for customers
August 2012 – Re-farmed the 2G 1800 MHz frequency band for its 4G LTE network and put into use
September 2014 – Announced in the 2013/2014 Annual Results Announcement that it started to re-farm its 2G 900 MHz spectrum for 4G LTE, to provide even better coverage. The re-farming targets to complete at the end of 2014
3G
December 2004 – Launched 3G services
July 2007 – Became the first company in the world to enable customers to stream flash video when browsing on any 3G feature phone
April 2010 – Debut 28.8Mbit/s HSPA+ network
September 2001 – Successfully bid the 3G license in Hong Kong
March 2011 – Won the auction for 850 MHz frequency band for its 3G service
4G
August 2012 – Launched its 4G service with 1800 MHz spectrum, supporting all 4G smartphones available in Hong Kong. 1800 MHz spectrum provides better indoor coverage than higher frequency spectrum
September 2012 – Became the only Hong Kong mobile operator approved by Apple to offer 4G on iPhone 5. SmarTone emphasized that “it is the only operator in HK offers 4G network on iPhone 5"
November 2012 – Extended 4G LTE coverage on all MTR Island Line stations and targets to offer 4G LTE coverage at all MTR stations and its connecting tunnels in early 2013
January 2013 – Provided 4G LTE network along the seven MTR lines. In the same year, it successfully bid for 2 x 10 MHz at the 2600 MHz frequency band for its 4G network to expand its network capacity and offer higher speed
December 2013 – Extended its 4G coverage to KCR’s lines and Lok Ma Chau Line
August 2014 – Launched VoLTE service but only supported selected smartphone models
September 2014 – Commenced the re-farming of 2G 900MHZ spectrum for its 4G LTE, to provide better indoor coverage. Target to complete the re-farming end of this year. SmarTone planned to meet the growing data demand with cell densification, small cell technologies, LTE-Advanced, as well as refarming
October 2016 – Extended 4G coverage to the new MTR Kwun Tong Line Extension, covering the new Whampoa and Ho Man Tin stations
December 2016 - Extended 4.5G coverage to the new South Island Line, including Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang, Lei Tung and South Horizons stations and deployed additional 2100 MHz spectrum to all MTR lines
5G
November 2016 – Partnered with Ericsson for a five-year partnership toward 5G, commencing early trials and pilot deployments of key pre-5G technologies to take place in Q4 2016
