Stop the promotional faxes, Hongkongers have been saying in the past two weeks.
An average of 1,200 fax numbers a day have been added to the do-not-call register and on Tuesday the ball will start rolling towards blocking text advertisements via cellphones.
The stop-the-fax registration - the second phase of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance - was running smoothly, said So Tat-foon, assistant director of the telecoms watchdog Ofta. 'The automated system is performing well in coping with the demand,' he said. 'Not a single case of line jam has been reported.'
Mr So said the plague of junk faxes was not as serious as in the past few years, given their declining popularity. 'Fax usage is diminishing in Hong Kong as more substitutes arise,' he said.
'Some people also connect their fax machines to their computers and receive the faxes in e-mail format. It has largely reduced the nuisance.'
The 16,050 newly registered fax numbers come under protection from January 18.
Although the second do-not-call list, regarding the text messages, will open on Tuesday, mobile users will have to wait till February 5 for the shield to have effect.