Welcome Address by Ms Eva Cheng, Acting Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting at the Mid-Year Meeting of Pacific Telecommunications Council
"The Internet Age: Asia Pacific into the Twenty-first Century"

21 June 2000

Mr Zia, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I am honoured to have been invited to address the Pacific Telecommunications Council's Mid-Year Meeting. Let me extend my warmest welcome to all of you.

This is the first time that the meeting is held in Hong Kong. I think the Council has made an excellent choice. Hong Kong is the right place to be, and this is certainly the right timing, to talk about the opportunities and challenges of the Internet Age. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is absolutely committed to ensuring that our telecommunications infrastructure can enable everyone to take full advantage of the Internet.

Hong Kong has one of the most open regulatory regime in the world. It is technology neutral, and pro-competition. We have no foreign ownership restriction in the telecommunications industry nor the information industry. Our regulatory regime fully recognises convergence of technologies. We impose no barrier on the telecommunications and cable networks carrying digitised signals, whether they are telecommunications or broadcasting in origin. In a small and dynamic market like Hong Kong, we cannot but fully embrace the vast opportunities offered by convergence. Our goal is simple : our regulatory regime must not stand in the way of technological advancement to which will develop services that best meet consumers' demand.

With such an open regulatory regime, you can imagine how competitive our telecommunications market is. Consumers can choose freely from ten fixed telecommunications network services operators for fixed-point communication, and eleven networks operated by six operators for their mobile communication. Or if they want to get connected to the exciting Internet world, they can choose from any one of the 173 Internet Service Providers to meet their individual needs. An average user who maintains one domestic fixed line, surf on the Net for say 3,000 minutes a month, goes on the mobile for 200 minutes and even makes 3 hours of international calls to the US a month pays a meague US$45 for this total telephone bill.

Most importantly, all of our telecommunications infrastructure and services are invested and operated by the private-sector. This makes our telecommunications sector highly responsive to market demand and technological advances. And we are committed to providing an overall environment that is conducive to private sector investment. Our traditional strengths : rule of law, free form of information, deeply entrenched anti-corruption culture and low taxes remain highly relevant for investment in the telecommunications or IT sectors.

Yet, we are not complacent. We are fully aware that in order to reap the benefits of the Internet Age, we need to get the key elements right. We must boost our connectivity, both locally and externally, and for fixed point or mobile communications. Our ultimate objective is nothing less than high speed, high quality broadband Internet access for whatever device, no matter it is a TV, computer, PDA or handset, anywhere, at anytime at competitive prices. Looking ahead, we are actively preparing for the timely introduction of 3G mobile services and aim to issue licences in the first half of 2001. We are also conducting a second round of consultation on the important question of broadband interconnection to ensure that Hong Kong remains a well-connected city in the Internet age.

If we get our regulatory regime and infrastructure right, the chance of successfully promoting content development is that much higher. Hong Kong is well-positioned in the development of Chinese Internet content and related applications. Given our bilingual capability and strong cultural ties with the Mainland China, we have good foundations on which to explore new opportunities in e-commerce and m-commerce applications. For example, the Trade Development Council has taken the initiatives to set up trade portals known as "TDCtrade.com" to serve local, regional and international users. There are specific sections on trade and economic information of the Mainland China. Another example is that the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong has entered into an agreement with a telecommunications operator (i.e., the New World Telephone) to provide mobile stock trading service from October 2000. This will further enhance Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre and stimulate further development of M-commerce in Hong Kong.

Ladies and gentlemen, the PTC Mid-year Meeting is an excellent forum for industry players like you to exchange views on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Telecommunications is afterall about speed and pervasiveness of communication. What better way to get up to speed than to share views and pose questions to a like minded group like this one? May I wish you a fruitful meeting in these two days.

Thank you.

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