ENG-2008 — Page 426

350 Communications, the Media and Information Technology

leader in the coverage of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) or fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) networks with a household penetration of 28 per cent. At year-end, there were three fixed carriers offering FTTH services with data transmission speed of up to 1 000 megabits per second (Mbps).

Other than the traditional wireline-based broadband services, there was a rapid and massive rollout of wireless local area networks in 2008. At year-end, 25 class licensees and five fixed carrier licensees were authorised to provide public Wi-Fi services. With the installation of over 7 800 Wi-Fi hot spots at around 4 700 locations in the territory by both the Government and the private sector, Hong Kong is at the forefront in the provision of public Wi-Fi service.

Local Fixed Telecommunications Network Services

Businesses and consumers in Hong Kong enjoy an excellent telecommunications infrastructure. In 2008, the telephone density was 99.1 exchange lines per 100 household, one of the highest in the world. The local fixed-line market has been fully liberalised since January 2003. Under the full liberalisation policy, there is no pre-set limit on the number of licences issued or any deadline for submission of applications for licences. By year-end, there were 10 local wireline-based fixed network licensees and one local wireless-based fixed network licensee.

Since the introduction of competition in the local fixed network services market in 1995, operators have been rolling out their self-built customer access networks to provide choices and services to end-customers. By March 2008, 81 per cent of businesses and 58 per cent of households in Hong Kong were able to enjoy a choice of at least two and three self-built fixed networks respectively. Accordingly, the mandatory Type II interconnection policy1, the purpose of which was to facilitate new entrants in providing competing service to customers in the start-up phase, was fully withdrawn with effect from June 30, 2008.

Mobile Communications Services

The market for mobile communications services is highly competitive. Five mobile carrier licensees were operating a total of 15 digital systems providing second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) mobile services, serving a customer base of 11.37 million. The penetration rate of mobile communications services was about 162.3 per cent, one of the highest in the world. At year-end, the four 3G operators had acquired a customer base of 2.81 million. Mobile data services based on the high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology offering service to mobile customers as fast as 14.4 Mbps are available. Higher speeds exceeding 21 Mbps will be offered when the technologies are available.

1 Type II interconnection, a regulatory tool widely deployed in the world, requires the incumbent fixed network operator to open up its copper-based customer access network to new entrants. After a comprehensive review, the Government announced in July 2004 that the regulation for mandatory Type II interconnection at telephone exchange level would be gradually withdrawn on a per building basis.