ENG-1991 — Page 349

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

(HONPHIL 2) cable linking up Hong Kong and the Philippines, and the Asia Pacific Cable (APC) linking up Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. Hong Kong Telecom International Limited operates a satellite earth station at Stanley with five Standard-A antennae communicating with international satellites over the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The only remaining external terrestrial radio links are with China, Macau and Laos.

In addition to the services provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited and Hong Kong Telecom International Limited, a wide range of public telecommunication services are operated by companies on a competitive basis under Public Non-Exclusive Telecommunications Service (PNETS) and Public Radiocommunication Service (PRS) licences granted by the Telecommunications Authority. These services include public mobile radiotelephone, public mobile data communication, one-way data message, public community repeater, second generation cordless telephone (Telepoint), electronic mail (text-mail and voice mail) and value-added facsimile transmission (for example, text-facsimile conversion). By December 1991, 44 PNETS and six PRS licences were in operation.

During the year special arrangements were agreed between Hong Kong and the United States, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong and Japan to liberalise the use of international private leased circuits (IPLCs) for value-added data and facsimile services. Under such arrangements operators of international value-added network services (IVANS) may use IPLCs to carry third party traffic at normal flat-rate tariffs.

Public mobile radiotelephone services (PMRS) continue to be very popular. The number of subscribers increased from 135 000 to 188 500 during the year. To cater for future growth in demand the Telecommunications Authority plans to license digital PMRS in Hong Kong in 1992–3.

Public radio paging services are extremely popular. By December 1991, 877 000 pagers were licensed. On a per capita basis Hong Kong has the highest penetration in the world for radio paging services (approximately 1 in 6.6). The pagers in use are mainly of the numeric and alphanumeric types. Paging services conveying messages in Chinese characters are also available.

The Telecommunications Authority has issued licences to four companies to operate Telepoint services in Hong Kong based on the Second Generation Cordless Telephone (CT-2) technology. The service is expected to be available at the beginning of 1992.

During the year the Telecommunications Authority issued a licence to a company for operating the International Radio Paging Service using the 931 MHz frequency band. This service is expected to be available in 1992.

A Hong Kong registered company, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited, operates a regional telecommunication satellite, AsiaSat-1. After the successful launch in April 1990, AsiaSat-1 started to offer telecommunication services to this region, stretching from the Middle East to Japan and including Hong Kong and China.

In Hong Kong, the Postmaster General acting as the Telecommunications Authority administers the Telecommunication Ordinance and the Telephone Ordinance, which govern the establishment and operation of all telecommunication services. The Postmaster General issues licences, monitors and regulates services, acts as the adviser to the government on matters concerning the general development of public telecommunication services and is a member of the Broadcasting Authority.

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