City Telecom (CTEL) unit links up with Cisco (CSCO)
biz.yahoo.com
HONG KONG, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's City Telecom (HK) Ltd said on Monday its subsidiary Hong Kong Broadband Network Service Ltd (HKBN) was forming a technology partnership with U.S. network provider Cisco Systems Inc (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news) to build HKBN's multiservice broadband access service.
HKBN and Cisco will hold a joint news conference at 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Tuesday to announce details of the deal, the Hong Kong telecom firm said in a statement.
HKBN, wholly-owned by City Telecom, said it would launch its broadband service in mid-February after receiving a wireless fixed telecommunications network services licence on January 18.
It had pledged to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, the local telecom regulator, to invest HK$830 million on infrastructure within three years.
''HKBN intends to invest more than this amount as customer demand increases,'' the statement said.
It planned to have its service covering 70 percent of the Hong Kong population in the coming three years, offering services to over 450,000 customers.
It expected to cover at least 1,480 buildings in the first year, tapping both residential and commercial markets. It expected to cover at least 3,552 buildings within three years.
''We are now under negotiation with more than 900 buildings and the feedback is very positive,'' City Telecom chairman Ricky Wong said in the statement.
''We have a huge captive unified IDD (international direct dialling) and Internet customer base for effective cross-selling,'' he said.
HKBN expected to officially launch the broadband Internet access service and basic telephony service in February, and offer the services at a rate of 30 percent below that of Cable & Wireless HKT .
It would also provide other value-added service such as video conferencing, video-on-demand, television broadcast and multimedia services.
''The range of services offered will be comparable to that offered by Cable & Wireless HKT,'' the statement said |
