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Media and Communications
between at least two and three self-built local fixed customer access networks respectively as at March,
Fixed Broadband
Hong Kong has one of the world's most advanced fixed broadband network infrastructures and a high household fixed broadband penetration rate of 93.2 per cent. Out of 63 economies, the city has the fourth fastest average internet bandwidth speed, according to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2018, published by the International Institute for Management Development in May. It is placed fifth globally in deploying an optical fibre access network, as rated by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe in February.
Charges for fixed broadband are very competitive, starting from as low as about $98 per month for services at speeds of up to 1 Gbps. The city is also at the forefront in providing public Wi-Fi service, with more than 56,000 Wi-Fi hot spots.
External Telecommunications
Forty-two operators are licensed to provide cable-based and/or non-cable-based external telecommunications facilities. Hong Kong has eight submarine cable landing stations and is connected to 11 regional and transcontinental submarine cable systems. It is also connected to the Mainland via 20 overland cables. The total equipped capacity of the external telecommunications facilities in December exceeded 73,842 Gbps.
Satellite Communications
Two Hong Kong companies, APT Satellite Company Limited and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited, are licensed to operate and provide satellite communications services. They operate 12 satellites in total.
Unsolicited Electronic Messages
Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance regulates the sending of commercial electronic messages, including faxes, pre-recorded telephone messages, short messages and emails. Operating under the ordinance are three 'Do-not-call' registers (DNCs) for faxes, short messages and pre-recorded telephone messages. As at end-2018, more than 2.7 million numbers were registered in the three DNCs.
In 2018, the CA received 625 reports of suspected contraventions and issued 30 warning letters to senders.
Protection of Consumers
The OFCA works closely with the industry to safeguard consumer interests in using telecommunications services and to resolve any systemic problems that are manifested in consumer complaints, covering chargeable mobile content services, mobile bill shock, contractual disputes, operators' fair usage policy, billing information and payment collection.
The industry offers a voluntary Customer Complaint Settlement Scheme, which receives funding and administrative support from the OFCA, to mediate billing disputes in deadlock
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