The installation of more than 5,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at around 3,000 locations in the territory, made Hong Kong a world leader in the provision of public Wi-Fi service, according to the latest statistics published by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA).

“We are pleased to see such a rapid and massive rollout of public Wi-Fi service,” said an OFTA spokesman. “Unlike other cities, where the public Wi-Fi service involves either public funding or co-ordination by governments, Hong Kong’s service is entirely funded by the commercial sector. This testifies again the success of our market-driven policy. We look forward to this as one of the many initiatives to be taken forward by the commercial operators to further drive the development of Hong Kong as a wireless city.”

To ensure that the public can have updated information about the development and coverage of the public Wi-Fi service in Hong Kong, OFTA will regularly publish statistics on the number of Wi-Fi hotspots and also their locations on its official Web site.

The spokesman noted that due to the expansion of public Wi-Fi service throughout the territory provided by the service operators and the Government’s commitments to provide Wi-Fi service in some 350 government premises in the coming two years, there is growing concern about the radiofrequency (RF) radiation safety to the general public.

“Even though Wi-Fi devices emit very low level of RF radiation, OFTA took the initiative to conduct the first territory-wide measurement of the RF radiation emitted by Wi-Fi hotspots from July to September this year,” he said.

OFTA adopts the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection Guidelines published in 1998 on the safety limits of exposure to RF radiation for the protection of workers and the public against non-ionising radiation hazards, which were set out in a Code of Practice for compliance by the industry.

According to OFTA’s measurement results, the RF radiation levels of Wi-Fi hotspots installed at various public locations, including convenience shops, cafes, shopping malls, the airport, MTRC and KCRC stations, were far below the recommended RF exposure limits laid down in the guidelines.

According to the World Health Organization, there is no convincing scientific evidence to prove that the weak RF signals emitted by wireless networks would have an adverse effect on health.