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THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1992
THE OFFER BY SMARTCOM LTD REPRESENTS A VERY GOOD PACKAGE POR THE HONG KONG CONSUMER. IT IS A HIGH QUALITY SYSTEM WITH LOW USER COSTS AND OFFERS EXCELLENT COVERAGE IN BOTH URBAN AND RURAL ARKAS AS WELL AS AN EARLY LANUCH DATE OF JANUARY 1993.
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ITS COVERAGE WILL EXTEND TO ALL ROAD AND RAIL TUNNELS AND THE ENTIRE MTR SYSTEM WITHIN TWO YEARS OF LAUNCH."
"FOR SUCH A HIGH QUALITY SERVICE, CONSUMERS WILL BR CHARGED PRICES THAT ARE LOWER THAN THOSE CURRENTLY CHARGED BY EXISTING OPERATORS, MR PAGLIARI ADDED.
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HE WAS CONFIDENT THAT THE INTRODUCT LON OF THE NEW OPERATOR WOULD INTENSIFY COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE PHONE MARKET, RESULTING IN BETTER PRICES AND QUALITY OF SERVICE FOR THE PUBLIC.
IT WILL ALSO PUT PRESSURE ON EXISTING OPERATORS, WHO HAVE YET TO CONVERT THEIR ANALOGUE SYSTEMS INTO DIGITAL, TO DO SO
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
DIGITAL MOBILE PHONE SYSTEMS HAVE THE ADVANTAGES OF BETTER TECHNICAL QUALITY AND FULL SPEECH PRIVACY.
THEY CAN ALSO PROVIDE A LARGE NUMBER OF ANCILLARY SERVICES. NO'T AVAILABLE TO USERS OF EXISTING ANALOGUE SYSTEMS, FOR EXAMPLE PAGING AND SHORT MESSAGE SERVICES, AND SUBSCRIBER IDENTIFICATION MODULK CARD.
MR PAGLIARI THANKED ALL THE CONSORTEA FOR THE SIGNIFICANT EFFORT PUT INTO THEIR SUBMISSIONS,
"UNFORTUNATELY IT IS ONLY POSSIBLE TO GRANT ONK ADDITIONAL LICENCE AT THE PRESENT TIME AND THE LARGE NUMBER OF PROPOSALS RECEIVED MADE
ENKVITARLE THAT SOME CONTENDERS UNSUCCESSFUL, HE SAID.
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"THIS IS NO REFLECTION ON THE QUALITY OF THEIR PROPOSALS, HE ADDED, EXPRESSING THE HOPE THAT IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE ΤΟ FURTHER INCREASE COMPETITION IN FUTURE BY LICENSING ADDITIONAL OPERATORS.
WAGE INDEXES FOR MARCH 1992
THE OVERALL NOMINAL WAGE INDEX FOR MARCH THIS YEAR WAS 9.5 PER CENT HIGHER THAN IN MARCH LAST YEAR, ACCORDING TO STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY (THURSDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
FOR 1991.
AFTER DISCOUNTING FOR INFLATION, THE OVERALL REAL WAGE INDEX MARCH 1992 SHOWED A MARGINAL INCREASE OF 0.1 PER CENT OVER MARCH
AN
COMPARING MARCH 1992 WITH SEPTEMBER 1991, OVERALL WAGES SHOWED INCREASE OF 4.6 PER CENT IN NOMINAL TERMS. AFTER DISCOUNTING FOR INFLATION, THERE WAS A SLIGHT DECREASE OF 0.4 PER CENT IN REAL TERMS.
/ANALYSED BY