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I-Cable turns to mobile devices for new growth

Pay-television operator i-Cable Communications says it may use the WiMAX technology to expand the reach of its network to portable mobile devices.

The move would help to generate more revenue, executive director Ben Tong Wai-sun said. I-Cable, which has been in operation in Hong Kong for more than 14 years, has a territory-wide cable television network based on the broadband hybrid fibre-coaxial network technology.

It did not own a mobile licence and the resulting restriction of its network reach to only 2.2 million households hindered further growth potential of its pay television and internet access business, he said.

'For sure, business based on the cable network may not see significant growth in the future due to our network coverage limitation,' Mr Tong said. 'In Hong Kong, broadband comes to almost 80 per cent of our 2.2 million homes. There is therefore not so much room to have new subscribers; we can only rely on luring new subscribers from rivals. It's a game of musical chairs.'

I-Cable reported 316,000 broadband line subscribers for the nine months to September, almost the same number as last year. Segment profit surged 25 per cent to HK$132 million despite revenue declining 1 per cent to HK$442 million. 'To grow our business, we should change our business model from the existing home-based subscription to an individual-based model more focused on personalised service,' he said.

'We need a wireless or mobile business to enable us to achieve this.'

Mr Tong said once the broadband business went mobile, the potential subscriber base would be more than two million.

'We can bundle our broadband connectivity and content subscription service and sell them to individual subscribers in a service more like a mobile television and wireless broadband bundle,' he said.

However, Mr Tong said the company still did not have firm plans to bid for the WiMAX licence next year.

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