Surfing the Net a cheaper thrill after latest cuts
Surfing the Internet costs less in Hong Kong than almost anywhere else in the world, the telecommunications watchdog said yesterday after lowering official per-minute rates for access.
Fierce industry competition and a booming number of Internet users have driven down the cost of connecting to the Web to $1.38 an hour in the SAR - almost half what Australian computer users pay and about one-fifth of what it costs on the mainland.
'We think we're one of the lowest in the world, and competition between ISPs [Internet Service Providers] is getting even more intense so we think that will drive the price even lower,' said Kay Yau Ka-yee, spokeswoman for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta).
The price Pacific Century CyberWorks HKT (formerly Cable & Wireless) can charge ISPs for use of its phone lines was lowered yesterday from 2.7 to 2.3 cents per minute, after Ofta last week determined that the cost of maintaining lines had dropped and demand had risen.
Phone companies New T&T and Hutchison also offer phone lines to ISPs. Both said they would match the new HKT rate but not go below it.
There are now 202 ISPs in Hong Kong - compared to just one in 1993 - and Ms Yau said rivalry was so fierce that most would immediately pass on the discount to consumers.
She said it was common industry practice in the SAR for Net users to be charged cost price for their time spent on line, with ISPs relying on monthly fees and advertising revenue for their income.
'For each hour, it's less than $1.40 and the monthly fees are getting lower and lower. It's very competitive,' Ms Yau said. Monthly fees range up to a couple of hundred dollars, depending on the speed and reliability of the connection and whether users are prepared to be bombarded with online advertising.
Data compiled by the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations body, compares the per-minute cost to ISPs of renting a phone line. Hong Kong's figure is a fraction of what users in many parts of the world are paying.
Charges are particularly high in Europe, with the fee equivalent to $11 an hour in Germany, $22 in Luxembourg and $5.20 in Italy.
Indonesia and Brazil are among the few countries charging slightly less per month for Net access than Hong Kong, but Ms Yau said living costs in each country had to be taken into account when drawing a comparison.
In July, the Post reported that cheap connection fees and a growing number of Chinese-language Web sites had seen Internet use more than triple in the SAR in two years.
Since then, the popularity of logging on has continued to soar. The latest Ofta figures show time spent online equates to about 55 minutes a week for every person in Hong Kong, up from 46 minutes six months ago and 13 minutes in 1998.
Graphic: NET02GET
