MR Alexander Arena, the Australian who is to head Hongkong's proposed new Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), sees himself as an agent of change rather than a traditional public servant.
But Mr Arena, known to friends and colleagues as Alex, wants the 230 Post Office staff who will be transferred to his office to take that not as a threat but as a promise of good things to come.
He moves to Hongkong this week, fresh from overseeing the deregulation of Australian telecommunications.
That had brought major benefits to customers in lower prices and better service, he said.
Hongkong customers could expect to benefit too, although not necessarily in those same ways, Mr Arena said.
''In Australia it is no longer the era of telephones 20 years ago when you could have any phone you wanted as long as it was black. The very threat of competition produced results,'' he said.