Press Releases

Hong Kong, 18 September 2024 - Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited (HTHK) today announced that the company will help produce Hong Kong's first 5.5G drama with a renowned local performing art group, which enables audiences to engage in a unique immersive theatre at a performance venue, further facilitating the development of art tech in Hong Kong.

HTHK will provide Zuni Icosahedron (Zuni), an experimental theatre, with 5.5G connectivity, for the production of the drama Left Unsaid in the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in November. The audience will enjoy connectivity ten times faster than 5G and a millisecond-level latency. The 5.5G network will help create Hong Kong's first 5.5G drama, facilitating Zuni's operations and communications at the venue. It will also enable the introduction of new elements into a drama, allowing over a thousand audience members to enjoy the performance with a close-up view of the performer through real-time mobile images at the same time. This groundbreaking cross-media performance combines lighting, sound, visual effects and audience participation, pioneering a unique immersive 5.5G theatre experience.

Left Unsaid is adapted and directed by Zuni's Co-artistic Director Mathias Woo. Renowned art director Yee Chung-man is responsible for the costume design, while famous film planner, producer and artiste agent Chan Sinn-gi serves as the producer. Hong Kong Film Award-winning actress Cecilia Yip-tung and veteran actor Kenny Wong Tak-bun play the starring roles in the drama.

Leveraging 5.5G to usher in the future of drama
Kenny Koo, Executive Director and CEO of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited, said: "We have been promoting the development of art technology by providing top-notch network services to support a wide range of arts activities. As the 5.5G art tech partner of Zuni, we enable them to transcend the conventional mode of performance by connecting with the entire audience in real-time, bringing the audience closer to performers and ushering in the future of drama."

Mathias Woo, Co-artistic Director and Executive Director of Zuni Icosahedron, said: "We are committed to exploring new art genres in Hong Kong for many years, trying to experiment on different types of innovative cross-media performances. Nowadays, with ever increasing expectations by audiences, we are keen to add further dynamics into our dramas. The collaboration with HTHK on a 5.5G network enables us to establish the closest distance between performers and the audience through real-time images on mobile devices, bringing a new perspective that combines the views from a stage and on mobile."

HTHK was earlier allocated a total of 600MHz spectrum in the 26GHz spectrum band by the Office of the Communications Authority. This helps enhance the capacity of the 5G network and opens a new chapter for 5.5G applications. HTHK's technical team conducted network tests earlier to prepare for the commercial use of the spectrum band. The highest download and upload speeds for the 26GHz band combined with the 3.5GHz spectrum band were 5.2 Gbps and 1.1 Gbps respectively with the support of appropriate equipment, marking a significant breakthrough in network technology.

In addition to supporting new applications in arts and cultural activities, the use of the 26GHz band of spectrum will help further expand 5G capacity and support more innovative applications, facilitating the development of various industries. This is especially beneficial for carrying out mission-critical communications in high-traffic areas, such as remote medical surgeries, extended reality and virtual reality applications, automated production procedures in smart factories, logistics handling in unmanned warehouses and autonomous driving in container terminals. Those advancements will greatly enhance efficiency and reliability, bringing unlimited business opportunities to various sectors.

About Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited

Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited ("HTHK"), a leading mobile operator in Hong Kong, offers diverse and advanced mobile telecoms services under the SUPREME, 3 Hong Kong, SoSIM and MO+ brands, addressing different needs of the consumer market. HTHK is also dedicated to developing business and enterprise solutions under the 3Business brand in the corporate market spanning mobile commerce, information technology, smart city, the Internet of Things and big data. HTHK channels the latest technologies into innovations that set market trends and steer industry development.

HTHK is the mobile division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited (stock code: 215), a group member of CK Hutchison Holdings (stock code: 1). For more information on HTHK, visit www.hthkh.com.