Letters to the Editor, August 4, 2013
I refer to the letter by C. K. Chan, of HKT ("HK enjoys world-class internet services at world-beating prices", July 28).
Your correspondent said that as the company upgraded its "fibre-to-the-home" technology, it could not "be expected to keep the ageing copper-based network in operation. Indeed, as customers migrate to fibre, the costs of retaining obsolete network assets in operation for a smaller customer base increase dramatically, hence we also need to price the copper-based service higher."
Firstly, the "ageing copper based network" is the same network that landline phones use. It must be maintained in any case until all phone services have been made purely digital, which is probably decades away. The copper is just the "last mile"; the rest of the network is common to all media.
Secondly, regardless, what this means is that those customers who cannot "migrate to fibre" because no one is supplying it where they live are subsidising fibre customers who are paying less for a much better service. We have no choice so we pay a premium price for a lousy service.
I'm now paying 50 per cent more than last year for a DSL service that is slower than it was 10 years ago. However, HKT (PCCW) bean counters justify their practices, they create huge ill will and I will never use the firm's services if I can find an alternative.
This company isn't alone in spurning inconvenient customers. Two years ago Hutchison laid a fibre network on Lamma Island, along all the main streets - then nothing.