Global telecommunications giant MCI WorldCom is ready to launch services from its Uunet subsidiary in Hong Kong next week.
It appears Virginia-based Uunet - the United States' largest supplier of Internet services for businesses - is primed to compete with Linkage Online, one of the SAR's biggest providers of corporate leased lines.
Despite the US company's imminent entry, Linkage Online president Chin Man is not convinced his business is in any danger.
'They don't know the local market,' Mr Chin said.
'Maybe they can get a few multinational clients, but that's it.' New T&T claims half of the IDD call minutes from its residential and mobile telephone customers are opting for its Talk Longer Pay Less plan, which had offered calls for as low as seven cents per minute to countries such as the US, Canada, Britain and Australia, so long as the call exceeded 10 minutes.
That scheme, which draws to a close on Sunday, is to be replaced by a similar plan for lengthy calls that offers 25 cents per minute on calls placed to North America and 45 cents per minute to Australia, Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan.