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Alan Paul Esq Head of HKD FCO
Miss Marasing
アクシ
MAR JONAISSION
BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION
HONG KONG.
28 February 1991
броке
fe
Mr Furness ← pliopeck W the present. husen at.
| suggest
a short meeting withh Mr Love Can this bc
CC MR BURNS MR MILES
Den Alan, arranged for my return?
HONG KONG TELEPHONE CABLE AND WIRELESS
1.
HD| COMED
desk level, Arunach
DTi matters
Jeca fran (DTI)
Co
premina A been
DTi thinkenn
Immediately after sending you my letter of 26 February
in touch
6/3
on this subject the Hong Kong Government revealed more of its hand during questions in LegCo. On 27 February, Anson Chan said that there was "no intention to terminate Hong Kong Telephone's local calls monopoly". However when pressed to say whether this also applied to Hong Kong Telecommunication's international call franchise which should be safe until 2006, Mrs Chan said "if other compelling and over-riding factors in favour of the consumer" existed the Government would "contemplate breaking its obligations under the franchise" She also said that the consultants, Booz Allen, whose involve- ment had not been announced previously, would complete their report in April and would recommend whether a second tele- communications network should be built in Hong Kong, and would provide an assessment on the impact of removing the exclusive franchise on local calls by Hong Kong Telephone after the current agreement expires (in 1995).
2. Reports on these exchanges have linked them to a/report from the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research (which despite the name appears to be a wholly American-sponsored and conducted report) which called for an end to Hong Kong Telecom's international monopoly and the end of its local network
subsidy, and went on to make other contentious charges that Hong Kong Telecom was profiteering on its international calls. The press reports also reveal that Booz Allen were responsible for the 1989 report to the Government that recommended that Hutchison Whampoa be awarded the Cable tele- vision franchise.
3. An editorial in the South China Morning Post of 28 February comments on the news that Booz Allen are advising the Government and says the last thing it needs is further consultants and that they should appoint their own expert to advise on policy in this complicated and technical area.
/A revealing.
th..
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