COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
in the international telecommunications market, in June 1996 the government and Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited, the holding company of HKTI, began discussing the existing arrangements for Hong Kong's international telecommunications sector and whether these are best suited to the continued development of the government's policy objective of maintaining the territory as the pre-eminent telecommunications hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
Communications Systems
At the end of 1996, Hong Kong had in operation 17 satellite earth station antennas providing direct communication with 76 countries via satellite. Hong Kong was also directly connected to seven submarine cable systems which linked the territory to many other places.
Public Mobile Radiotelephone Service
At the end of 1996, the four cellular phone operators - Hong Kong Telecom CSL Limited, Hutchison Telephone Company Limited, Pacific Link Communications Limited and SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited provided public mobile radio-telephone services in five digital and two analogue systems. In all, 1 210 680 customers were served, representing a 76 per cent increase over 1995. As a result of a competitive market and technological advancement, cellular handset prices dropped significantly in 1996.
In September 1996, six Personal Communications Services licences were issued for operating mobile communications services in the 1700-1900 MHz frequency band. Two licences were awarded to the existing cellular operators, Pacific Link and Hutchison. The other four licensees were Mandarin Communications Limited, New World PCS Limited, People's Telephone Company Limited and P-Plus Communications Limited. The six licensees are expected to start providing services in the first half of 1997.
Telepoint (CT-2) Service
With the increasing popularity of cellular phones, the customer base of telepoint services shrank sharply and, as a result, the three licensed telepoint operators ceased operation during the year. The affected customers were offered different packages for switching to cellular phone services.
Public Radio Paging
Public radio paging remains popular in Hong Kong. At the end of 1996, there were 33 licensed paging-service operators using 77 frequencies in the 170 and 280 MHz bands, serving 1.09 million customers.
International Value-Added Network Service
A total of 132 licences for providing international value-added network services were in force at the end of 1996, including 94 Internet access service providers. The Internet user base in Hong Kong was estimated to exceed 200 000. Other value-added services available in the market included electronic mailbox, data communication, store-and-forward facsimile and video-conferencing.
Self-Provision
Companies and organisations are permitted to provide their own external circuits for internal/intra-corporate communications through the grant of a Self-Provided
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