Pnets charges fade quietly to join lowest in the world

The once-controversial Pnets surcharge that dial-up Internet users must pay Cable & Wireless HKT has been quietly reduced by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta), which says Internet access charges now are among the lowest in the world.

Ofta lowered the charges to $1.62 per hour from $1.98 from October 1. The fee to transmit Internet traffic over HKT's lines now is a fraction of the $5.40 per hour charged in 1995, though some Internet service providers (ISPs) said they were disappointed the charge was not scrapped or the reduction was not greater.

As well as the Pnets (public non-exclusive telecommunications service) charges, Hong Kong's almost 800,000 Internet users also pay subscription fees of about $100 to their ISPs.

The battle over Pnets charges between ISPs and the former telecoms monopoly - also the largest consumer ISP, via Netvigator - dates back to 1995 when six companies accused of operating ISPs without Pnets licences were raided.

Though the ISPs have not convinced Ofta of the need to scrap Pnets, the charges have been reduced in increments.

Charles Mok, general manager of HKNet, said he was disappointed the charge was not at least halved in the latest round, considering that Hong Kong Internet traffic had more than doubled in the past year.

'HKT did not have to add any resources to deal with this increase,' he said. 'I think this is unfair and not good for competition.' Mr Mok and others said that while any decrease was good, the latest one was not enough to spur demand for Internet services.