HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong government will continue to enlarge mobile phone coverage in country parks to enable hikers to seek assistance during emergency, said Joseph Wong, secretary for commerce, industry and technology, on Sunday.

Joseph Wong said the government has allowed mobile phone network operators to use various government hilltop sites for building base stations, charging a minimum rent of 1 HK dollar per year, and waiving the utilization fee for the additional radio spectrum specially allocated for use at these base stations.

The government's initiatives received positive respond from operators and the total number of base stations serving the popular hiking trails, such as the Maclehose Trail, Wilson Trail, Lantau Trail and Hong Kong Trail, has now increased to 12.

Hong Kong has about 23 country parks with an area of 41,000 hectares. Their wild and natural beauty is appealing to many hikers and visitors during holiday. However, the "blind spots" of mobile phone coverage may cause trouble when emergency happens.

Wong said the government is holding further discussions with the mobile phone operators for additional base stations, aiming at increasing mobile phone coverage to 94 percent of the popular hiking trails in the territory.