INTERNATIONAL paging service SkyTel was launched in Hongkong yesterday with the hope that its pagers would also soon work in China. SkyTel pagers are similar in size and operation to others, but can be used in more than one country because the operators have got access to a radio frequency that is available worldwide. The service is more expensive than that offered by conventional pagers, which can only work in one city or country. SkyTel is aimed at global business jetsetters. Sales and marketing director Allen Luu said that putting Hongkong into this ''electronic global village'' was costing $45 million and he expected 10,000 Hongkong subscribers in the first year. He said the company had 300,000 subscribers worldwide, primarily in the United States, and carried six million messages a day. The pagers also work in Canada, Mexico and Singapore. Bermuda, Indonesia and Malaysia are scheduled to join in the summer. Negotiations to bring in China were taking place in Beijing and the provinces. The pagers cost at least $328 a month, plus $15 to $35 for each message delivered across national borders. This is about 50 per cent more than the rental of Hongkong pagers but comparable with those that also work in Guangdong province. However, these do not have a message charge. SkyTel uses local companies as partners in each market. Hongkong Telecom CSL and four others have been signed in Hongkong to provide customer services, while SkyTel's US parent, Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp, provides the technology. The company does not rely heavily on satellite communications, unlike some worldwide data services which equip their users with satellite receivers. Each country has a land-based transmitter based on one frequency, about 931 megahertz, which the pagers monitor. When pager owners change countries, their messages are switched to the land-based transmitter in that country.
