[HKT]
<<<Hongkong VOD/VDSL sounds like its going to be hugh. ("More than 9,000 buildings already have been wired"). I'm looking forward to some press on that. >>>
Dave --
Since the HKT contract is through NEC,I think getting press will be about as likely as Madonna playing Mother Teresa. It doesn't negate the fact that orders are coming in and modems going out. Just means no one hears about it. I would expect at some point the major players, HKT and NEC, themselves, would want to do an official launch. If Amati's not mentioned then, this normally easy-going woman who will become The Shareholder From Hell.
From an article in Financial Times, dated June 11, 1997:
<<<
Hongkong Telecom has committed HK$10bn over 10 years to its interactive media services (IMS), a bundling of internet, video-on-demand (Vod) and home shopping. Customers will have their first taste of interactive TV this summer when the service is unrolled to 2,500 households. The full launch is due in October - which means Hong Kong will have the first commercial fully-fledged interactive TV services, ahead of the US and Singapore (due to come on line next year).>>
And another FT article, this time on Taiwan telecommunications. Never mind it's on mobile phones, the statistics are far-reaching:
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Taiwan: Days as Asian mobile phone laggard are numbered
Originally published: FRIDAY AUGUST 8 1997
By Laura Tyson
Given their affluence and technological sophistication, a great deal fewer Taiwanese use mobile phones than many of their Asian neighbours - just four in every 100, compared with three times that number in Singapore and more than 22 in Japan, for instance.
That - and much more in the world of telecommunications - is set to change in the next few years as a result of reforms announced recently, in particular plans to sell off to the private sector and foreign investors up to 75 per cent of Chunghwa Telecom, the state telecoms operator.
The government also intends to lift to 50 per cent the 20 per cent ceiling on combined foreign investment in domestic telecoms ventures.
"We believe this market will rival Hong Kong in terms of cellular penetration," says Mr Mark Joseph, project manager for a cellular phone joint venture between AT&T of the US and Far Eastern, one of Taiwan's leading business groups. With the current lack of capacity addressed, mobile phone ownership is expected to jump to 25 per cent of Taiwan's 21.5m residents in the next few years.
Mr Chen Mien-chang, head of the China Rebar group's telecom business, expects the total turnover of Taiwan's telecoms market to double or triple to US$10bn-US$15bn (œ6bn-9bn) in the next five years as a result of reforms already under way.
Rebar, one of Taiwan's biggest conglomerates, has captured a leading position in the fast-developing cable television industry and plans to build a fixed-line network offering cable, voice, data and internet services nationwide. The fixed network will be linked to satellite services once those two markets are opened.
Under the preliminary privatisation announced last week by Mr Tsay Jay-yang, minister of transport and communications, up to 20 per cent of Chunghwa's shares would be swapped with leading international telecoms companies.
Another 5-25 per cent would be sold to institutional investors either directly or through global depository receipts (a financial instrument which allows shares in a listed company to be traded on designated international
exchanges).
Another 20-30 per cent are to be sold to Taiwan citizens and Chunghwa's 36,000 employees at preferential prices late next year or early in 1999. The company is likely to be listed on the Taiwan stock exchange at the same time.
Before privatisation can proceed, Chunghwa's assets need to be re-evaluated, which will take time, says Mr Steven Chen, chairman. Listed at T$399.7bn (œ8.5bn), the company's actual assets could top T$1,000bn after extensive land holdings are revalued.
Chunghwa, which was spun off from the transport ministry as a state enterprise only a year ago, made profits of T$45.6bn on operating revenues of T$157.3bn in the year ending June 30 1996, the latest figures available.
Liberalisation of Taiwan's telecoms industry was set in motion in January 1996 with the approval of a package of laws by the national legislature, ending a government monopoly on telecoms services and lifting a ban on foreign investment.
In January eight licences were awarded to private sector ventures to set up regional and nationwide mobile phone systems. The first, the joint venture between AT&T and Far Eastern, is set to start operations at the end of the year.
Negotiations are under way between the private operators and Chunghwa, the only existing operator, over connection fees to be charged for routing calls from the new entrants' wireless network into Chunghwa's fixed-line network and vice versa.
Private operators say Chunghwa is demanding excessively high rates and accuse government regulators of siding with its wholly owned and highly profitable telecoms concern.
Mr Chien Jen-teh, head of the department formulating telecoms policy at the transport ministry, denies playing favourites but points out that Chunghwa is required to invest in basic telecoms infrastructure. "We want Chunghwa to serve as an 'umbrella' to protect private operators, so its burden will be heavier," he says.
In a few years, when private operators are permitted to set up fixed-line networks to compete with Chunghwa, the whole telecoms market will be more balanced, he says. Meanwhile the government wants Chunghwa to give the newcomers a discount "so that they can get strong as soon as possible".
The government is concerned that new entrants do not fail, leaving stranded customers and a black mark on the privatisation process.
Mr Chen of Chunghwa does not agree. "The connection fee should be based on real costs, not marginal costs as the private sector operators want. That's not fair to us. Eighty per cent of our total investment each year goes to the local network, but only brings in 30 per cent of our revenues."
The problem is that local calls are operated at far below cost and are heavily cross-subsidised by long-distance, cellular and, until recently, international calls. Wide use of callback services has forced Chunghwa to cut long-distance rates substantially in the last two years.
Call rates must be rationalised and cross-subsidies eliminated, says Mr Chien.>>>
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