ENG-2014 — Page 350

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The Media, Communications and Information Technology

To help resolve billing disputes in deadlock between consumers and their telecommunications service providers by means of mediation, the telecommunications industry set up a voluntary Customer Complaint Settlement Scheme for a trial period of two years from November 2012 to October 2014 with funding support from the OFCA. All major telecommunications service providers participated in the scheme and the OFCA and the industry are now assessing its effectiveness before deciding the way forward.

International Activities

Hong Kong continues to be an active player in international telecommunications forums. In addition to being a member of the Mainland delegation to conferences and meetings organised by the International Telecommunication Union, Hong Kong participates as an independent member at meetings of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, the Telecommunications and Information Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation and the London Action Plan for combating spam.

Broadcasting

Hong Kong is a forerunner in the adoption of advanced broadcasting technologies. The government's broadcasting policy objectives are to widen programme choice and diversity through competition, to facilitate the introduction of new, innovative broadcasting services and to enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional broadcasting hub.

To achieve these objectives, Hong Kong adopts a facilitating and pro-competition approach to promote the application of various innovative broadcasting technologies, and provides a liberalised and light-handed regulatory environment for new broadcasting services to flourish. This allows Hong Kong to enter into a new era of broadcasting, with broadened programme choices and innovative services available to the viewing and listening public. At the end of 2014, Hong Kong had some 800 satellite and pay television channels available in digital format, and was the world leader in deploying Internet Protocol Television technology, with over one million subscribers. There were also 19 licensed satellite television broadcasters providing more than 200 channels for the Asia-Pacific region. The two incumbent terrestrial television broadcasters launched digital broadcasting officially in December 2007. By the end of 2014, there were 15 free-to-air television channels (four analogue and 11 digital free TV channels, of which six are high-definition (HD) TV channels). Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Hong Kong's public service broadcaster, produces programmes of public interest for broadcast on free and pay TV channels. In January 2014, RTHK commenced a trial run of digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels. As to radio, as at the end of 2014, Hong Kong's five radio stations (four commercial operators and RTHK) provide a total of 13 analogue and 17 digital audio broadcasting channels.

Regulatory Approach

Provision of television programme services and the carriage networks in Hong Kong are regulated separately. A television programme service provider may hire any transmission network operator to transmit its service instead of investing in transmission infrastructure itself. This arrangement facilitates market entry and encourages competition.

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