HONG KONG-In January, the Hong Kong government awarded five licenses for wireless fixed telecommunications network services (FTNS), signaling a major advance in Internet access.
The licensees will use base stations to transmit voice, data and video signals via microwave links to rooftop antenna dishes on subscribers’ buildings. Distribution within the buildings will be by coaxial cable or telephone cable. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) or other backbones typically will link the base stations to the telephone network, the Internet and content providers.
Most of the FTNS services are scheduled to come online in the second half of this year.
Wireless point-to-multipoint networks are especially well-suited to Hong Kong’s high-rise environment, since most people live in buildings of 30 to 40 floors, so many subscribers easily can be linked to each antenna.
Lagging in broadband
Although Hong Kong’s telecommunications infrastructure is excellent, only about 20 percent of the population has Internet access, and services such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) are over-priced by other regional standards.
Thus, the rapid expansion of broadband wireless access will be welcome, particularly for the government, which is locked in competition with other Asian cities to retain Hong Kong’s position as a regional telecom hub and a gateway to China.
There were 14 applications for wireless FTNS licenses, but spectrum limited the number that could be issued, said K.C. Kwong, secretary for information technology and broadcasting. “Having considered the availability of radio spectrum against the requirements for the efficient operation of local wireless FTNS, the OFTA (Office of the Telecommunication Authority) decided to issue five licenses,” Kwong said. “This will give the five operators adequate bandwidth upon service launch, and allow sufficient reserve bandwidth for future growth in customers and introduction of new services by the licensees.”
SmarTone Mobile Communications, which already operates two mobile networks and services-including wireless data, international direct dialing and Internet access-holds one FTNS license. The company was the first in Hong Kong to offer Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) services on its mobile phones.
On the day the licenses were announced, iSm@rt, the Internet service arm of SmarTone, began offering a free Internet access service, presumably to boost its shopping and entertainment portal, which includes content sourced from Yahoo!.
In December, SmarTone showcased several broadband and multimedia information services, including video streaming, information retrieval, Web browsing, interactive network games and music TV.
Hong Kong Broadband, another licensee, is fully owned by City Telecom HK (known as CTI), the flagship of Ricky Wong, a Hong Kong entrepreneur.
CTI, a telecom and Internet service provider that already gets 1.2 million visitors a day to its Internet sites, will offer telephony, television and high-speed Internet access through its wireless system. Wong is planning Chinese content for CTI’s Web sites, which he describes as “Global Chinese television stations broadcasting over the Internet,” and he has earmarked HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) for content production.
Licensee HKNet-Teligent is a joint venture between HKNet Co., the second-largest local Internet service provider; Teligent, a world player in broadband fixed wireless networks; and CCT Telecom Holdings, an integrated telecommunications company with operations in Hong Kong and China.
The consortium expects to combine HKNet’s strong local fiber optic backbone network with Teligent’s SmartWave point-to-multipoint technology that has been launched in 40 major U.S. networks in the last 14 months. The network will provide bandwidth of up to 5 Megabits per second for video, virtual meetings on the Internet using video and audio connections, Web browsing, and e-mail and file transmission. The new operator hopes to roll out services to 90 percent of residential and commercial areas in Hong Kong within three years.
PSINet, which won a fourth FTNS license, is a leading worldwide provider of IP-based communications services for business. Already well-entrenched in North America, Latin America and Europe, the company expanded its Asian base in 1999. In Hong Kong, PSINet HK has a comprehensive range of services for the Internet, including private IP networks, electronic commerce and Web design, and information technology in education.
The final licensee, Henderson Land, is one of a small group of Hong Kong property companies that has dominated the local economy in the past, and now is hurriedly diversifying into Internet-related technologies. Plans for its wireless FTNS venture are not yet public.
