HONG KONG's role as a regional financial centre is in danger of being strangled by an inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, according to WorldCom Pacific Asia president Steve Liddell.
The company wants the Government to fully liberalise the sector following its telecoms review later this year.
The Government has already taken limited measures to open the market to competition, agreeing in March to pay Hongkong Telecommunications HK$6.7 billion to end its monopoly on international connections, which would otherwise have remained in force until 2006.
In a two-stage process, the three other fixed line service providers - Hutchison, New T&T and New World - will be able to provide international services from January 1 next year through Hongkong Telecom's existing connections. From January 1, 2000, these providers will be able to offer a full range of services through their own infrastructure.
WorldCom is pushing the Government to throw open the doors of competition to enable any carrier to enter the market, arguing that only through a fully open market will Hong Kong be able to remain competitive.
'The clear benefit of international liberalisation will never be realised if it [the market] is limited to local operators,' Mr Liddell said.