Wharf T&T targets 25pc market share with HK$1b network outlay
Hong Kong's Wharf T&T plans to invest HK$1 billion in the next three years to expand its optical fibre network across the territory to help boost its market share to 25 per cent from 10 per cent of the high-speed business broadband market.
Vincent Ma Wai-shin, president of Wharf T&T, said that the HK$1 billion investment, dubbed '+EN', which stands for 'plus enterprise network', would be conducted in phases. 'The funds needed will come from our own company. We don't need to raise extra money from outside,' Ma said, referring to the company's HK$300 million to HK$400 million annual cash flow. The latest report from the Office of the Telecommunications Authority showed that the fibre-optic networks run by the five new fixed network operators, including Wharf T&T, only covered 60 per cent of commercial buildings in the city last December.
Wharf T&T, a member of the Wharf Group, is the second largest business fixed-line operator in Hong Kong. Ma said the network enhancement project would enable Wharf to provide broadband internet services to over 95 per cent of the business customers in Hong Kong in the form of 'fibre-to-the-office' model.
The wire speed for each connection could reach up to 10 gigabytes per second, he added. As part of the plan, the company is also set to be a pioneer to deliver IT-as-a-service for business customers on a monthly charge basis. The core services will include messaging, desktop care, storage cloud, data centre services, e-marketing and Web enablement.
Ma said he expected the upgraded services would gain more small- and medium-sized enterprise customers from the market.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, around 60 per cent of business establishments in the city had access to personal computers or internet connection by last December, while only 20 per cent had their own websites or Web pages.
Blazing a trail
Firm set to be a pioneer to deliver IT-as-a-service for business customers
Funding for the company's optical fibre network expansion will come from its annual cash flow of, in HK$: $300m
