ENG-1987 — Page 307

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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The internal telephone service is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited. With over 2.6 million telephones served by more than 1.9 million lines, the territory has a density of around 46 telephones for every 100 people.

The company also operates a public data network using a special transmission switching technique, known as packet switching, to provide the public with more advanced data communication facilities.

The network helped the introduction of 'cashless shopping', as it enabled the electronic transfer of funds to go into operation at selected retail outlets.

Hong Kong's international telephone service is provided jointly by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited and Cable and Wireless (HK) Limited. A world-wide operator-connected service is available and International Direct Dialling can be made to more than 180 overseas destinations as well as to over 5 000 ships at sea fitted with satellite communication equipment.

International telecommunication services, which include public telegram, telex, tele- phone, television programme transmission/reception, leased circuits, ship-shore and air- ground communications, are provided by the Cable and Wireless (HK) Limited under an exclusive licence granted under the Telecommunication Ordinance. The company also operates the local telex and telegram service. International facilities are provided through land and submarine cables, radio systems and satellite links from the Stanley earth station which operates via satellite over the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

New submarine cables and radio links are put into service from time to time, thereby further improving Hong Kong's telecommunication facilities for communication with other territories.

To meet the high demand for telecommunication between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong) Limited signed two contracts for the supply and installation of equipment for the Hong Kong-Guangzhou optical fibre cable system, scheduled to be in operation by August 1988. The digital system with a capacity of 46 080 telephone circuits will be initially equipped for 7 680 circuits to carry telephone, telex, telegraph and 64 kb/s data.

In addition to the basic services provided by the two franchised companies, a number of telecommunication services are operated by private companies under non-exclusive licences granted by the Telecommunications Authority. Services such as radio paging, mobile radiotelephone, data facsimile transmission, videotex, electronic mail, and community repeater are offered competitively by a number of organisations. Radio paging services are especially popular, and over 330 000 pagers are now in service.