Hong
Kong Internet and E-Commerce Facilities
The
Internet access business in Hong Kong is
highly competitive, with almost 200 providers,
with many of them being substantial and
well-financed operations. Internet access
is available throughout the SAR.
With
a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure,
Hong Kong offers access to broadband connectivity
to more than 90% of all households. The
take up of broadband services got off to
a slow start, but a boom in broadband access
took off in 2003. According to government
statistics, Hong Kong has an online population
of 4.3 million with the penetration rate
standing at 85%.
A
study released by the Asia Pacific Carriers'
Coalition (APCC) on June 14, 2010, affirm
the position of Hong Kong as the premier
telecommunications hub in the region and
said that Hong Kong provides the
region's most economical local broadband
access services.
The
Office of the Telecommunications Authority
(OFTA) welcomed the findings of the APCC
Study: "According to the Study findings,
the prices of broadband leased lines in
Hong Kong at transmission speed of 1.5 Mbps,
2 Mbps, 45 Mbps and 155 Mbps are the lowest
amongst the 14 economies covered in the
Study. In terms of Ethernet access facilities,
Hong Kong's prices are the lowest at transmission
speed of 10 Mbps and 1 Gbps. The price for
symmetric digital subscriber line (DSL)
in Hong Kong is likewise the most competitive.
The Study also shows that the prices of
the various categories of local leased lines
in Hong Kong have fallen on average by 30%
to 50% between 2006 and 2009," said
an OFTA spokesperson.
"An
excellent telecommunications infrastructure
with cost-effective international telecommunications
connections and associated local access
facilities underpin the premier position
of Hong Kong as a regional financial and
trading hub and as the preferred city for
regional headquarters of multinational corporations.
The confluence of key information technology
segments, such as data centre operators
and content service providers, also rely
on competitively-priced and reliable telecommunications
connections within the region and beyond,"
continued the spokesperson.
"The
Study confirms once again the success of
our facility-based competition and market-driven
approach, which began with the liberalisation
of the local fixed market in 1995 followed
by the liberalisation of the external facility
market in 2000. While there are 12 local
wireline-based fixed carriers in Hong Kong
providing local access services, 29 cable-based
external carriers are also operating here.
These external carriers may make use of
the local access services provided by the
local fixed carriers, or they may choose
to build their own backhaul facilities after
acquiring the appropriate telecommunications
licence from this office," added the
spokesperson.
The
APCC commissioned the consultant TRPC to
conduct the local access price benchmarking
study for the Asia Pacific region in 2009.
The Study compares the prices of local leased
lines, Ethernet access facilities and DSL
respectively in 14 economies, including
Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Cyberport
PCCW's
Cyberport set out to transform Hong Kong's
Internet infrastructure. The Cyberport's
goal was to provide the office and residential
space for high tech ventures and their employees;
the government provided one of the last
undeveloped parcels of land on the Hong
Kong island for the Cyberport in return
for a share in the venture. However, the
Cyberport was unlucky with its timing, and
when the first phase opened in 2002 only
80% of it quickly let, to five tenants including
Microsoft.
However,
in December 2010, Hong Kong Cyberport Management
Company Ltd. announced that was planning
a HKD100 million investment in Hong Kong’s
information and communications technology
(ICT) industries over three years.
This
investment, says Paul Chow, Cyberport's
chairman, demonstrates the company's confidence
in the potential of the local industry to
grow and contribute to the overall economy
in Hong Kong.
"We
will especially place our focus on facilitating
ICT start-ups and SMEs in Hong Kong to grow
and take advantage of the growing market
trend such as Web 3.0. This can be achieved
by Cyberport’s continued funding and
reciprocal network support given to the
visionary market players, as part of the
HK$100 million investment we announced today,"
said Chow.
"The
importance of ICT’s role in economic
growth is becoming more and more apparent
worldwide. On behalf of the board, I am
excited to take up this new position and
look forward to helping Cyberport become
a leading hub for the Asia-Pacific ICT industries,"
he added.
.hk
Domain
In
December, 2003, website owners in Hong Kong
expressed outrage at plans unveiled by the
Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Company
to launch a .hk domain in 2004. With domain
name designations in Hong Kong including
.com.hk, .edu.hk, and .org.hk, many website
and business owners argued that they were
happy with these categories, and resented
being forced to pay again to protect their
brand.
Jim
Morgan, founder and chief technology officer
of security firm Datalude, suggested that
the move would "create anarchy", as businesses
rush to register domain names with the Hong
Kong local authority. "The resulting legal
disputes and unfairness would go down in
folklore. The other outcome would be that
a large amount of money would find its way
into Hong Kong Domain's coffers," he predicted.
Mr
Morgan also observed that: "I see no real
need for the .hk namespace. We already have
a .com.hk which conforms, more or less,
to accepted international standards."
The
Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation
Limited (‘HKIRC') and its wholly owned
subsidiary Hong Kong Domain Name Registration
Company Limited (‘HKDNR') jointly
announced the launch of the Second Level
‘.hk' Domain Name on 31 May 2004.
By
February 2006, 100,000 .hk domain names
had been registered with the HKIRC.
In
March 2007, the HKIRC announced the official
launch of the new ‘.hk’ Chinese
Domain Name (CDN). Christopher To, Chairman
of HKDNR, endorsing the adoption of the
‘.hk’ CDN, said: “Leveraging
on technology and market readiness in Hong
Kong, the launch of the new ‘.hk’
Chinese Domain Name will strengthen the
social and business networking potential
of the Internet for the Chinese community
all over the world. HKDNR is fully confident
that the ‘.hk’ Chinese Domain
Name will gain momentum in Hong Kong very
quickly as it meets the needs of both the
Hong Kong business and social communities.”
“We
received overwhelming response from the
community, with 6,862 applications during
the soft launch period. These positive results
testify to both the need and the great support
for ‘.hk’ Chinese Domain Names
as shown by users in different sectors,”
added Jonathan Shea, Chief Executive Officer
of HKDNR.
Many
of the early applications were from luxury
brands, consumer brands, banks and financial
institutions, shopping arcades, office and
residential complexes, educational institutions,
public utilities and government departments
and programs such as Brand Hong Kong, reflecting
the importance of brand awareness and visibility
on the Internet for a diverse range of industries
and organizations. During the third phase,
registration right was opened to the public.
Applicants included a wide array of individuals
from all walks of life, including some celebrities.
In
June 2010, the HKIRC announced that it had
received ICANN’s approval to delegate
the Chinese equivalent of the ‘.hk’
Top Level Domain using Chinese characters.
According to a recent survey, at the end
of 2009, over 75% of web users in China
used the Chinese language to surf the Internet
and 23% used both Chinese and English, reflecting
the use of the native Chinese language by
the vast majority of Chinese web users when
browsing websites.