ENG-1991 — Page 348

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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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 16 per cent over the previous year. Material printed locally with a total value of $3,937 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 71 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

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 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 and leased circuits for data and facsimile.

The penetration of the telephone network is very high in Hong Kong. By the end of 1991, there were an estimated 3.4 million telephones served by 2.6 million exchange lines. The current telephone density is 60 telephones per 100 population, which is among the highest in South-east Asia.

Facsimile communication is very popular. The number of facsimile lines reached 137 000 by the end of the year. In addition, the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited operates a public packet-switched data network called Datapak which offers a wide range of advanced data communication facilities.

During 1991, the telephone company continued to modernise the local public switched telephone network, which is expected to be fully digitalised by 1993. In 1991, the entire Hong Kong telephone transmission network, comprising the junction circuits intercon- necting its exchange buildings, was totally digitalised. In addition, modern signalling techniques are being implemented in the network.

In international telecommunications, telephone traffic grew by 23 per cent to 1 607 million minutes in 1991. International Direct Dialling Service (IDD) is now available to more than 208 overseas countries and territories, and there are more than 655 destinations in China that can be called using the IDD service. As a result of the increasing popularity of facsimile communication, the volume of international telex traffic dropped by 12 per cent to 51 million minutes in 1991.

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-Guangdong optical fibre cable, the Singapore-Hong Kong-Taiwan submarine cable, the Hong Kong-Luzon submarine cable, the Hong Kong-Japan-Korea optical fibre submarine cable and the Hong Kong-Taiwan 2 optical fibre submarine cable. There are two optical fibre submarine cables being planned for operation in 1993: the Hong Kong-Philippines 2