Aerial photo taken on June 27, 2017 shows the scenery on the both sides of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, south China.(Photo: Xinhua)

The Hong Kong SAR government has increased the funding for a subsidy scheme to encourage early 5G development, with the funding increased from HK$50 million ($6.44 million) to HK$100 million, according to a post on the official website of the Hong Kong SAR government on Sunday.

According to the post, a total of 100 additional projects are set to receive grants with the funding doubled, and the application deadline has been extended to July 31, 2022.

The Hong Kong SAR government has approved a total of 103 applications since the scheme was launched in May, covering innovative applications in a variety of sectors such as remote mechanical maintenance, remote telemedicine application, 3D building information modelling in construction sites and 4K/8K live video broadcasting, read the post.

Edward Yau, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR government, said that 5G provides enormous potential for developing business services and smart city applications from smart homes to autonomous driving with 5G's edge of high speed, low latency, high capacity and massive connectivity, adding that the Hong Kong government will continue putting efforts in promoting 5G development as the current good progress has laid a solid foundation for 5G's extensive application.

The Subsidy Scheme for Encouraging Early Deployment of 5G under the Anti-epidemic Fund subsidizes 50 percent of the costs related to the deployment of 5G technology in a project, with an upper limit of HK$500,000.

Global Times