The Hong Kong government has re-issued the tender for rural broadband network construction in the outlying islands.

The original tender, issued last June, attracted no bidders.

Ofca is seeking a local fixed-line telecom company to build optical fibre links to the edge of rural villages in the four outlying islands – Lantau, Lamma, Cheung Chau and Peng Chau.

It also requires construction of three undersea fibre links – from Lamma to Hong Kong Island, Cheung Chau to Lantau, and Peng Chau to Lantau.

Currently, only Lantau has a fibre connection to Hong Kong island.

Ofca said the successful bidder would be required to make available up “at least half of the capacity” of the new infrastructure to other operators for free.

The tender is part of a HK$774 million government scheme to deliver high-speed broadband to 235 rural Hong Kong villages.