5.
7 -
Technology and Telecommunications Legislation
5.1
5.2
a
Telecommunications technology is moving rapidly towards what is known as the integrated services digital network (ISDN). This will be a single network which can carry comprehensive services including voice, data and video signals. From telecommunications view point, there will in future be no need to distinguish between different service signals since all will be able to be converted into digital signals and transmitted as such throughout a single network. In many countries, the existing public switched telephone network which was designed primarily for carrying voice is being converted into an ISDN. In Hong Kong, digital technology has been under installation since 1981 and the territory currently boasts one of the largest urban optical fibre networks in the world. Every telephone exchange in the territory will have digital capability by 1988 thus ensuring that new and innovative services may be available in Hong Kong whether provided by the Telephone Company or on a competitive basis by various licensed providers over the Hong Kong Telephone Company's network. Increasingly since 1982 more and more services are being provided on a competitive basis. Terminal equipment likewise is now sold in Hong Kong by a wide variety of vendors.
Against the background of rapid technological change, outdated legislation and a franchise due to expire in 1995, Hong Kong Telco raised with Government the need for a new Telephone Ordinance which would not be hide-bound by technology
technology (as the current Ordinance is) and which would allow an orderly development of the territory's telecommunications into the next century. Government agreed that we should be discussing this
this important issue and encouraged the Telephone Company to submit a discussion paper all parties recognising that the process of discussion leading to new legislation might well take several years.
A discussion paper was submitted in the Autumn of 1986.