Legend link to boost access to mainland
online.hkstandard.com
By Don Gasper
STORY: PACIFIC Century CyberWorks (PCCW) sees its new alliance with Legend Holdings as one way it can facilitate its move into the mainland.
``The link with Legend is a great relationship for us,' said PCCW senior vice-president Katherine Cho.
``To enter markets like mainland China and India, which are underdeveloped in terms of infrastructure, the most effective way to reach the customers is through cable and satellite technology.'
Ms Cho said that by bundling content and services with Legend PCs, PCCW hoped to promote the growth of its Internet business on the mainland.
It is understood that, following the latest deal between the two parties Legend PCs will be fitted with a ``hot' button that will swiftly connect users to PCCW's NOW product, thus enabling instant access to the World Wide Web.
While PCCW will gain a platform for its moves into the mainland, Legend will benefit by having content with which to enhance its Net-ready PCs.
Ms Cho said set-top devices would be used for accessing the Internet. The company is developing a chip for this together with Intel.
The company thinks cable technology is the best delivery mechanism given the high penetration rate of television in the region. PCCW aims to reach households via the connectivity created amongst various cable operators and deployed satellites. It will beam its own content to the Asia Satellite (Asiasat) III, which will then be transmitted to cable operators in the region.
According to Ms Cho, the firm is already working with 10 mainland cable operators.
Of course, the cable companies would have to make an investment, she said, but, given that the return was likely to be in the region of 25 per cent to 30 per cent, there was unlikely to be much of a problem in encouraging such investments. The banks, too, were also interested in investing, she said.
Ms Cho said that the content would not be controversial. PCCW's content strategy was to start by rolling out sports stories. These would be followed by finance, then education, weather items followed by travel reports.
Mary Ma, Legend executive director, said her company had decided to move from dealing only in computer hardware to becoming a one-stop solution Internet company.
Legend, however, would focus on the mainland market at least for the next two or three years, Ms Ma said.
PCCW and Legend have just signed a memorandum of understanding according to which Legend will supply the technical back-up, allowing PCCW to use cable TV networks to deliver interactive Internet services to the mainland. |
