Call-back success puts telecom plans in doubt
Hongkong Telecom says the popularity of the territory's call-back phone operators is creating network planning problems which could lead it to waste millions of dollars.
International call discounts offered by Hongkong Telecom's rivals rely on routing calls via the United States.
Hongkong Telecom international director Keith Harrison said this meant traffic across the Pacific had risen substantially while calls to other destinations in some cases had fallen.
'This means we are now having to reconsider plans for submarine cable systems,' he said.
'Should we plan according to previous world call traffic flows or adjust to the new situation and put in extra capacity across the Pacific?' The call-back phenomenon has grown quickly over the past two years, as US long-distance companies have sold cheap US-HK line time to operators in Hong Kong.
Computers turn an outgoing HK-US call into a US-HK call and utilise the lower line costs. Hong Kong customers calling third countries also enjoy cheaper rates when the call its routed through the US.
'Telecom's problem was guessing how long the situation would last before returning to normal,' Mr Harrison said.
A wrong guess could be costly as submarine cables are expensive.
The risk is of spending millions of dollars on extra capacity that might rapidly become under-utilised.
The alternative is failing to install enough capacity to keep up with demand, resulting in service quality problems.
