ENG-1990 — Page 356

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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The sales and marketing of data and word-processing systems are now handled by more than 100 companies offering over 200 systems. The output data can be converted or interfaced with typesetting equipment at realistic cost to provide publishers with the additional benefits of fast and cost-efficient printing. An increasing number of Chinese language word-processors are being installed to meet demand.

Domestic exports of printed matter increased in value terms by 13 per cent over the previous year. Material printed locally with a total value of $3,398 million was exported, with the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Australia being the main customers. Books, pamphlets, newspapers, journals and periodicals accounted for over 69 per cent of exports of printed products. The biggest customers for this reading material were the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Overall, the printing and publishing industries contributed six per cent of net output of the manufacturing sector.

Telecommunication Services

The basic public telecommunication services are provided under franchises by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited and Hong Kong Telecom International Limited. The Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited has the exclusive right until June 30, 1995, under the Telephone Ordinance to provide the public telephone service by wire within Hong Kong. Hong Kong Telecom International Limited has been granted an exclusive licence until September 30, 2006, to provide a range of public international telecommunication services, including telephone, telex, telegram, facsimile and data transmission facilities and leased circuits.

The penetration of the telephone network in Hong Kong is very high. By December 1990, there were an estimated 3.3 million telephones served by 2.4 million exchange lines, giving Hong Kong one of the highest telephone densities in South-east Asia with over 56 telephones per 100 population.

Facsimile communication in Hong Kong is also very popular. The number of facsimile lines reached 107 000 by the end of the year. In addition to the facsimile transmission service, the telephone company operates a public packet-switched data network called Datapak which offers a wide range of advanced data communication facilities.

During 1990, the telephone company continued to modernise the local public switched telephone network, which is expected to be fully digitalised by 1993. Optical fibres have also been used extensively for inter-exchange connections and modern signalling techniques are being implemented in the network.

In international telecommunications, telephone traffic grew by 24 per cent to 1 312 million minutes in 1990. International Direct Dialling service is now available to more than 207 overseas destinations. As a result of the increasing popularity of the use of facsimile transmission, the volume of telex traffic dropped by 15 per cent to 58 million minutes in 1990.

Hong Kong is connected to other territories by overland and submarine cables, satellites and terrestrial radio links. The more important cables include the Hong Kong-Guangzhou optical fibre cable, the Singapore-Hong Kong-Taiwan submarine cable and the Hong Kong-Luzon submarine cable. In 1990, two new optical fibre submarine cables were brought into service. One of them links Hong Kong, Japan and the Republic of Korea (H-J-K Cable), and the other links Hong Kong and Taiwan (HONTAI-2). In addition, a