Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ian Davidson who wrote (17325)	3/7/1999 12:02:00 AM
From: hui zhou	Respond to of 74651

Mews: Redmond, Washington, March 5 - Microsoft Corp. (US: msft-news) and Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd. will announce on Tuesday a joint service to deliver movies and interactive games to personal computers in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the plan said. The joint venture service will be available to most of Hong Kong Telecom's customers later this year, according to the person familiar with the plan. Hong Kong's dominant phone company and the world's biggest software maker are in talks to cooperate in three or four other areas as well, he said. The announcement will come as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates visits Hong Kong, China and Japan, meeting with corporate leaders, government officials and software developers. The Hong Kong Telecom partnership follows a series of recent alliances with cable-television companies aimed at providing faster access to the Internet. ''They started in the U.S., then moved into England and now in Hong Kong,'' said Tom Hensel, an analyst at Everen Securities Inc. who has a ''short-term outperform'' rating on Microsoft. ''Microsoft wants to be out there, playing with everybody.'' Gates and Linus Cheung, Hong Kong Telecom's chief executive, will make the announcement at a joint news conference in Hong Kong. For Hong Kong Telecom, an interactive PC service would set it further apart from its three smaller fixed-line rivals in the city's newly deregulated telecommunications industry. Hong Kong Telecom shares today staged their biggest rally in more than six months on anticipation that the company will team up with Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker. Telecom Stock Soars Shares of Hong Kong's dominant phone company rose 9 percent to HK$14, their biggest one-day gain since Aug. 24. In China, Gates will announce projects with local partners in Shenzhen on Wednesday. Microsoft declined to give details. In Japan, the chief executive will host a meeting for Japanese corporate executives and address two conferences, one about the Internet in Japan and the other for software developers. Asia accounts for about 17 percent of Redmond, Washington- based Microsoft's overall revenue, though the company doesn't break out the region from its ''international'' category. Japan is Microsoft's biggest market after the U.S., according to the company. Gates last toured Asia in June, when he visited Japan, Korea and Thailand.