Yearender: HK Gives Spur to IT Development

The Information Technology sector has made much progress in Hong Kong this year thanks largely to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government's support and simulative measures.

The SAR government is committed to encouraging IT development to maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge and to drive the overall economic growth, said Hong Kong's Director of Information Technology Services Lau Kam-hung recently while addressing an IT forum here.

As a practical expression of the government's commitment, the government promulgated the "Digital 21" IT strategy in November 1998, which set out the vision and targets to enhance Hong Kong's information infrastructure and services to make it a leading digital city.

The strategy identified four enabling factors, including developing high capacity telecom networks, establishing an information infrastructure, promoting IT education and cultivating a culture encouraging the use of new technologies in the community.

Since an efficient and high-capacity telecom infrastructure is a pre-requisite for IT development, the government, first of all, has set up a world-class telecommunications infrastructure.

Hong Kong "is well positioned as a telecommunications, Internet and broadcasting hub in the region with its excellent telecommunications infrastructure," said Anthony S.K. Wong, director-general of the office of the Telecommunications Authority of the SAR government.

There are a total of ten local fixed telecom network operators in Hong Kong, of which five use wireless technologies, and the broadband network covers all business buildings and 90 percent of the households, Wong said last month during the ITU Asia telecom fair.

The 11 mobile networks of Hong Kong have reached a penetration rate of 70 percent, meaning that over 4.7 million people in Hong Kong are mobile phone users, only second to North Europe, which is home to the largest mobile-phone users in the world.

To take the lead in the 3G mobile communications development, the government intend to invite applications for 3G licenses around the end of this year and four licenses are expected to be granted the next year, said Wong.

The Internet boom has also taken off in Hong Kong this year, with users of the Internet exceeding 2 million, Internet Service Providers surpassing 200, and 40,000 companies registered under the domain names of "Com.HK".

Over the past 15 months, there are more than 1,500 dotcom companies founded in Hong Kong and 50 percent of households in Hong Kong are computer owners and have access to the Internet.

The first class infrastructure is complimented by the government's policy to further liberalize Hong Kong's telecommunications market, emphasize free competition and provide a level playing field to encourage investment.

The government is inviting foreign telecommunications operators to join in Hong Kong's telecommunications competition and bring in new telecom infrastructure.

Early this year, the government opened up the external fixed telecommunications markets and the emergence of new operators is expected to bring in substantial additional infrastructure. As a result, Hong Kong now has one of the world's most open telecommunications markets, Wong said.

As electronic commerce has been widely recognized as an important tool to drive economic growth, the government also attached importance to providing a safe and secure environment for the conduct of electronic transactions through building up a public key infrastructure.

The Hong Kong Post set up the first public certification authority in Hong Kong January this year to address the basic security concerns in doing business in the cyberspace.

The Electronic Transactions Ordinance was enacted in January 2000 to enhance certainty and security in the conduct of electronic transactions. To encourage the use of IT, the government has taken the lead to implement the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme.

E-commerce transactions in Hong Kong are forecast to soar to some US$1.4 billion-worth in 2003 from 1998's US$60 million-worth, according to industry estimates.

The SAR government is also committed to providing the necessary infrastructure to encourage the application of innovation and technology.

The Cyberport, Hong Kong's IT flagship project, has already attracted a lot of interests from international companies and acted as a catalyst for the growth of local IT companies.

Up to August 2000, over 150 companies, local and overseas, had registered interest in becoming tenants of the Cyberport, including 15 multinational corporations.






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