Hong Kong Telecom Explained

HKT Limited
Type:Public
Foundation:
Key People:Richard Li
Industry:Telecommunications
Revenue: HK$33.3 billion
Revenue Year:2017
Net Income: HK$5.1 billion
Net Income Year:2017
Num Employees: over 15,900[1]
Num Employees Year:2020
Assets: HK$95.4 billion
Assets Year:2017
Equity: HK$39 billion
Equity Year:2017
Brands:Netvigator
Parent:PCCW
Location:Hong Kong
Footnotes:in consolidated financial statement[2]

HKT Limited, also known as Hong Kong Telecom, is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Hong Kong. It has a dominant position in fixed-line, mobile, IDD and broadband services in Hong Kong. HKT Group is a subsidiary of PCCW since 2000, after it was acquired from Cable & Wireless plc.

The company, along with HKT Trust, is a pair of listed corporations on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which the two corporations were bundled as one single stapled security.

Corporate identities

The former holding company of the group was Cable & Wireless HKT Limited (; former ticker symbol: 8). It was a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless plc. It was taken over and privatised by PCCW in 2000.[3] PCCW also started to use the ticker symbol "8" after the takeover. Cable & Wireless HKT Limited was formerly known as Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited, which was incorporated in 1987; it was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT Limited in 1999, but renamed again to PCCW-HKT Limited in 2000; PCCW-HKT still use the same registered Chinese name (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司) until 2011, which in the same year the Chinese name became the registered Chinese name of HKT Limited instead.[4]

PCCW-HKT had a major subsidiary PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited,[5] which was incorporated in 1925 under the name Hongkong Telephone Company, Limited;[4] it was briefly known as Cable & Wireless HKT Telephone Limited from 1999 to 2000.[4], PCCW-HKT[2] as well as PCCW-HKT Telephone were still live, wholly owned subsidiaries of PCCW.[2] However, the telephone services are now provided by HKT's wholly owned subsidiary, Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited instead, after a group restructuring in 2008.

In October 2011, PCCW shareholders approved a partial spin-off of the assets as HKT on the Hong Kong stock exchange (but excluding the two legal persons PCCW-HKT and PCCW-HKT Telephone). HKT was successfully listed on 29 November 2011, as HKT Limited and HKT Trust.[6] [7] HKT Limited was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, while its direct parent entity, HKT Trust, was set up in Hong Kong under the laws of Hong Kong.[8]

History

Domestic telecommunications facilities in Hong Kong became more advanced in 1925 when the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC) took over the interests of John Pender's China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company. The company's mandate included providing all the British colonies with local telephone services. Over the next six decades, Hong Kong Telephone's line capacity grew to more than 2.5 million, with the company serving approximately six million people.[9]

Telecommunications became increasingly important following World War I, and in 1929 the British companies Marconi Wireless and Eastern Telegraph joined to establish Cable & Wireless. The company's strategy was to supply telephone and telegraph services in Britain's colonies, and it succeeded in securing an exclusive franchise to provide international communications services in Hong Kong.

By 1972, the company's biggest operation was its subsidiary in rapidly growing Hong Kong. Hong Kong Telephone, meanwhile, built a new headquarters in 1972. The company's growth was said to typify the colony's transition from an economy based on manufacturing to one dependent on service industries, which created a demand for telecommunications services. In 1975 Hong Kong Telephone's franchise for domestic service in the colony was extended for an additional 20 years, to expire just ahead of Hong Kong's reversion to China's control in 1997.

Chronology

Hong Kong Telephone Company

Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong Telecommunications

HKT Limited

HKT (Hong Kong Telecom)

HKT Group Holdings Limited was formed in 2008 to hold the telecommunications services, media and IT businesses of the PCCW Group, a reorganization designed to improve the Group's operational efficiencies.[28] HKT and its predecessor PCCW-HKT, was the first quadruple play provider in Hong Kong, offering media content and services for fixed-line, broadband Internet, TV and mobile. PCCW acquired HKT, at that time known as Cable & Wireless HKT, in February 2000 from Cable & Wireless.[32]

Main business and subsidiaries

Commercial and international business

The HKT Commercial Group provides ICT services to small, medium and large enterprises. The group managed the installation of Asia's largest IP-enabled network for securities and derivatives markets, built for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and known as SDNet. It includes an electronic passport system, known as e-PASS, and the Smart Identity Card system for the Hong Kong SAR Government.[33]

Netvigator

See main article: Netvigator. Netvigator is a residential and commercial Internet service provider in Hong Kong, a brand of HKT Limited. It is Hong Kong's largest Internet service provider (ISP).[34] [35]

csl, 1O1O, Club SIM

See main article: CSL Mobile. CSL Mobile is an HKT subsidiary, which operates mobile network brands of "csl", "1O1O" and "Club SIM" in Hong Kong.[36] CSL, at that time incorporated as CSL New World Mobility, was re-acquired by PCCW via HKT in 2013. After the 2013 acquisition, HKT also merged PCCW Mobile HK into CSL. CSL was sold by PCCW in 2001, while PCCW Mobile HK, formerly SUNDAY, was acquired by PCCW in 2005–06.

SUN Mobile

See main article: Sun Mobile. SUN Mobile, formerly New World Mobility, is a joint venture of HKT Limited and . It was a former joint venture of CSL New World Mobility and Telecom Digital. In 2013 CSL New World Mobility was acquired by PCCW via HKT Limited, from Telstra and New World Development, thus the mobile virtual network operator was re-branded as SUN Mobile.

HKT Teleservices

PCCW Global

PCCW Global (formerly Beyond The Network America[40]) is the international operating division of HKT Limited.[41] It was owned by PCCW's sub-holding company HKT Group Holdings Limited (HKTGH) since 2008[28] and HKT Limited since its IPO in 2011.

PCCW Global acquired Gateway Communications in 2012[30] and Console Connect in 2017.[31] [42]

YouTube incident

On 24 February 2008, Pakistan Telecom caused a major interruption of access to the video-sharing website YouTube.[44] [45] [46] [47] Pakistani Government authorities instructed Pakistan Telecom (PTCL) to prevent access to YouTube within Pakistan. PTCL complied by changing the BGP entry for YouTube – essentially updating its local internet address book for where YouTube's section of the internet is. The idea was to direct its internet users to a page that said YouTube was blocked. Unfortunately, the ISP announced the new route to its Internet link provider, PCCW.[48] PCCW had recently provided temporary access to PTCL in order to restore the nation's loss of internet access due to a previous major submarine cable break event. PTCL began leaking the BGP announcement to PCCW prior to PCCW's completion of the BGP validation and filtering policies process on the newly activated link. This allowed the announcement to propagate to other networks.[49]

Once detected, PCCW immediately blocked the leaked announcement from PTCL and access to YouTube was restored within 2 hours.[50] [51]

HKT Interactive Media (PCCW Media)

now TV

See main article: Now TV (Hong Kong). now TV is an IPTV and pay-TV provider in Hong Kong delivered by PCCW Media.now TV serves Hong Kong with more than 190 channels of local, Asian and international programming, such as the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, J-League, French Open, ATP World Tour, and World Snooker Tour. In addition, now TV is a producer of news, sports and infotainment programming and a provider of interactive services. nowTV can be viewed on its nowTV app, and select now TV content and interactive applications can also be accessed via the group's 4G mobile network and broadband service.[52]

The Club

a Hong Kong customer loyalty program.[53] [54]

HKT Payment Limited

the developer of "Tap & Go", a prepaid mobile payment service for Hong Kong users.[55] [56]

Brands and services

Former service

PCCW announced the formation of wholly owned subsidiary Cascade Limited in late 2002 to 2008,[63] [64] [65] [66] It was reported that the staff were offered a wage-cut in the new contract.[63] [66] The name of Cascade is removed from now on, become a part of HKT and named as "Engineering", a business unit of HKT, simply like Commercial group of PCCW. All staff in Cascade had transferred to HKT without changing.

[67]),[28] However, due to 2011 initial public offering of HKT Limited, some of the subsidiaries of HKTGH (which HKTGH was a wholly owned subsidiary of HKT Limited[68]) still have use the name cascade or pccw in their name due to law and finance reasons, although they wholly owned subsidiaries of HKT.[28] [29] A namesake, Mainland China-incorporated "PCCW Cascade Technology (Guangzhou) Limited" is a wholly owned subsidiary of HKT Limited.[69]

Controversy

In 2018, it was exposed that HKT breached the land leases for 4 of their telephone exchange buildings. They were illegally converted to customers service centers.[70]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Group at the website of "HKT Here to Serve".
  2. Web site: 2017 Annual Report. 28 March 2018. 9 April 2018. HKT Limited c/o HKT Trust. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  3. Web site: Telecommunications Authority makes interconnection determination to implement IDD liberalisation . 16 March 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071011200059/http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/press_rel/98/dec_98.html . 11 October 2007 . dead .
  4. Data in Hong Kong Companies Registry
  5. Book: Report on the competition impact of the acquisition of shares in SUNDAY by PCCW. 5 July 2005 . 18 March 2018. Office of the Communications Authority. Hong Kong.
  6. Web site: HKT TRUST AND HKT LTD. – SS (6823) . 18 March 2018. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.
  7. News: PCCW spin-off raises HK$9.3b in global I.P.O.. 24 November 2011. 18 March 2018. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong.
  8. Book: 2016 Annual Report. 14 February 2017. 18 March 2018. HKT Trust c/o HKT Limited. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  9. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 30. St. James Press, 2000.
  10. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=Nr01DwAAQBAJ. zh:香港要覽(外三種). Hong Kong crucial guide book plus three other sources. 101. Joint Publishing (Hong Kong). zh-hk. 梁英杰. 高翔. 樊敏麗. 趙雨樂. 鍾寶賢. 李澤恩. 978-962-04-3454-9. 2017. written in Japanese circa 1920s.
  11. News: Telephone Question. Terms new agreed upon. Must be confirm by council. 19 February 1925. The Hong Kong Telegraph. Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS. 1.
  12. Book: zh:白手興家:香港家族與社會 1841–1941. https://books.google.com/books?id=Fr_sDQAAQBAJ. 鄭. 宏泰. 高. 皓. 11 July 2016. zh-hk. 210. Chung Hwa Book Company (Hong Kong). 9789888420230.
  13. Web site: Telecom Milestones. 18 March 2018. Office of the Telecommunications Authority. Hong Kong.
  14. News: zh:電話今後六年 投資逾五十億 將發展流動無線電電話. Telephone will invest 5 billion in the next 6 years; will develop mobile radiotelephone. 30 March 1983. The Kung Sheung Evening News. Industrial and Commercial Daily Press. Hong Kong. zh-hk. Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS.
  15. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=MRGvAAAAQBAJ. zh:香港中資財團. 郭國燦. October 2009. 218–219. 三聯書店(香港)有限公司 . 9789620428869. zh-hk.
  16. News: zh:電話與大東電報合併 改名為香港電訊上市 兩股電話換一新公司股份另五送一股證 合併後總市值八百多億成本港最大上市公司. 20 October 1987. Ta Kung Pao. Hong Kong. zh-hk. Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS.
  17. Web site: Hong Kong: Telecoms and technology background . 11 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142458/http://www.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=IwPrintVW3&article_id=816231281&printer=printer&rf=0 . 12 June 2018 . dead .
  18. Web site: Broadband Interconnection. 3 November 1999. 18 March 2018. Office of the Communications Authority. Hong Kong. 7.
  19. Web site: Milestones of Telecommunications in Hong Kong. https://web.archive.org/web/20090708134734/http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/telecom_fact/milestones/main.html. dead. 8 July 2009.
  20. Web site: Technology News, Analysis, Comments and Product Reviews for IT Professionals. ZDNet.
  21. Continuing connected transactions. 23 December 2016. 11 March 2019. Pacific Century Premium Developments. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  22. Telstra and PCCW Launch Joint Ventures. 7 February 2001. 18 March 2018. Reach.
  23. News: Lau. Justine. PCCW returns to wireless with Sunday buy . Financial Times. London. Hong Kong. 13 June 2005. 28 February 2018.
  24. News: Mark. Lee. Wong. Ka-chun. PCCW returns to mobiles with $1.94b bid for Sunday. The Standard. Hong Kong. Sing Tao News Corporation . 14 June 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20060309053535/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Front_Page/GF14Aa02.html. 9 March 2006. 28 February 2018.
  25. Results of spectrum auction for provision of CDMA2000 mobile services. 15 October 2007. 18 March 2018. Office of the Telecommunications Authority. Hong Kong.
  26. Web site: Hong Kong's CDMA2000 Mobile Network Finally Launched. ChinaTechNews com. Editor. 23 November 2008.
  27. Rating Action: Moody's assigns Baa2 rating to HKT; outlook negative . 28 November 2008. 18 March 2018. Moody's .
  28. Book: prospectus . Global Offering. 16 November 2011. 5 April 2020. HKT Limited c/o HKT Trust. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  29. 2011 Annual Report. 26 March 2012. 18 March 2019. PCCW. 97–98. Hong Kong. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  30. News: VODACOM Gateway unit sold for $26m. 11 June 2012. 11 March 2019. Bloomberg. Independent Online. Independent Media (Pty) Ltd. Cape Town .
  31. Console Connect Acquired. 6 November 2017. 11 March 2019. PCCW Global.
  32. News: HK Telecom profit falls 90% . 4 May 2000. 7 April 2019. CNN.
  33. News: PCCW wins ID card contract.
  34. News: More wireless hotspots open for Netvigator. South China Morning Post. 26 January 2018. en.
  35. News: HKT unleashes more ultra-fast broadband connections in Hong Kong. South China Morning Post. 26 January 2018. en.
  36. Web site: CSL Mobile Limited: Private Company Information – Bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com. 26 January 2018.
  37. Web site: About Us. HKT Teleservices. Hong Kong. 1 May 2019.
  38. Web site: Global Footprint HKT Teleservices. www.hktteleservices.com. en. 7 April 2018.
  39. Web site: Customer Care HKT Teleservices. www.hktteleservices.com. en. 7 April 2018.
  40. Web site: DMCA. PCCW Global. 11 March 2019.
  41. PCCW Global to link Rodrigues with high speed undersea cable for Mauritius Telecom . PCCW Global. en. 7 April 2018. 5 March 2018. Hong Kong.
  42. PCCW Global to link Rodrigues with high speed undersea cable for Mauritius Telecom . PCCW Global. 7 April 2018. 5 March 2018. Hong Kong.
  43. Web site: Oct 20. david nunes . Releases. 2014 Press. 2014-10-20. PCCW Global acquires Crypteia Networks to address cyber security issues facing most organisations today. 2020-09-12. Connect-World. en-US.
  44. McCullagh, Declan, "How Pakistan knocked YouTube offline (and how to make sure it never happens again)", CNET News, 25 February 2008.
  45. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/031008-youtube-pakistan.html YouTube/Pakistan incident: Could something similar whack your site?
  46. "Pakistan Hijacks YouTube: A Closer Look", Circleid.com (25 February 2008). Retrieved on 23 December 2013.
  47. "Pakistan YouTube incident adds to international outage", Betanews.com (25 February 2008). Retrieved on 23 December 2013.
  48. Pakistan's Accidental YouTube Re-Routing Exposes Trust Flaw in Net. Singel. Ryan. 25 February 2008. Wired. 10 December 2019. 1059-1028.
  49. News: Insecure routing redirects YouTube to Pakistan. Ars Technica. 7 April 2018. en-us.
  50. News: YouTube outage blamed on Pakistan . BBC News . 24 February 2008 . 25 February 2008.
  51. Web site: Pakistan removed from the Internet . https://web.archive.org/web/20080227235854/http://blogs.zdnet.com/threatchaos/?p=548 . dead . 27 February 2008 . Richard . Stiennon . Threat Chaos . ZDNet . 24 February 2008 . 25 February 2008.
  52. News: TV Everywhere Comes To Asia. 5 August 2013. Media Business Asia. 7 July 2014.
  53. News: The Club rewards HKT Premier customers for their loyalty. South China Morning Post. 26 January 2018.
  54. Web site: The Club An exciting rewards program Offers you a variety of events and privileges to meet your lifestyle and entertainment needs. theclub.com.hk. 26 January 2018.
  55. Web site: HKT debuts Tap & Go NFC payment service. ComputerWorld Hong Kong. 26 January 2018. 27 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180127004405/https://www.cw.com.hk/digital-transformation/hkt-debuts-tap-go-nfc-payment-service. dead.
  56. News: Hong Kong's HKT expands mobile payment service as part of fintech push. South China Morning Post. 26 January 2018.
  57. News: http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/finance/20130712/00434_025.html. zh:香港電訊檢討固網月費. 12 July 2013. 19 March 2018. The Sun. Hong Kong. Oriental Press Group. zh-hk.
  58. News: https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20080817/11486183. zh:被游說裝 eye多媒睇得物無所用 . 17 August 2008. 19 March 2018. Apple Daily. zh-hk. Hong Kong.
  59. Web site: About Us. PPS . Hong Kong. 11 March 2019.
  60. News: https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20070905/10115360. zh:繳費靈4戶口被盜15萬 17歲少年 承認46項罪 判教導所 . 5 September 2007. 11 March 2019. Apple Daily. zh-hk. Hong Kong.
  61. News: Lingering legacy of iTV. 19 March 2018. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong.
  62. News: iTV chief expects to break even in 2 years. 21 October 1998. 19 March 2018. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong.
  63. Web site: http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/fina/20021118/20021118020518_0002.html. zh:電盈重組網絡管理搶攻亞洲可能涉及裁員減薪. 太陽報 [The Sun ]. Restructuring of PCCW leading to cutting down on staff number. 7 April 2018. Oriental Press Group. 任志楊. 18 November 2002.
  64. Web site: Cascade Limited: About Us. 2003. Cascade. https://web.archive.org/web/20080218054619/http://www.cascade-ltd.com/abtus/index_company.html. 18 February 2008. dead. 18 March 2008.
  65. Web site: Cascade Limited: Private Company Information. Bloomberg. 7 April 2018.
  66. News: PCCW'S STAFF IN CASCADE. 30 November 2002. 11 March 2019. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong.
  67. News: Hi-tech approach helps to raise the quality of service. 14 June 2005. 11 March 2019. South China Morning Post. Michael. Taylor. Hong Kong.
  68. 2011 Annual Report. 26 March 2012. 24 March 2019. HKT Limited c/o HKT Trust. Hong Kong. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  69. Continuing connected transactions: Lease and Licence Agreements . 9 December 2013. 24 March 2019. Pacific Century Premium Developments. Hong Kong.
  70. News: HKT slapped with warning after four service centres found in breach of land leases. 15 March 2018. 18 March 2018. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong.