A number of overseas operators 'are talking about Hong Kong as being a hub for Asia and using it for their network operation centres for originating and terminating [telecoms] traffic'.

However, Ms Brillson noted that one potential problem for foreign carriers lies in gaining local loop access - the interconnection to the telephone networks within buildings.

Three of the SAR's four local fixed telephone network service (FTNS) operators have property companies as their parent.

As a result, there have long been problems experienced by customers who want the services of an FTNS operator, but are not accommodated in a building owned by the operator's parent.

Ms Brillson described it as 'building-by-building monopolies'.

The Government needed to get the carriers to address the problem 'or pass legislation to ensure equal right of access to those buildings'.

'That's the only obstacle that I can see,' she said.

Ms Brillson predicted Hong Kong would still be a hub for mainland traffic despite the fact that up to 49 per cent of foreign ownership in mainland operators will be allowed after Beijing enters the World Trade Organisation.

This was partly because Hong Kong had a better accounting rate system - the method international phone companies use to charge each other in accordance with a series of bilateral agreements.

Ms Brillson's company was looking to add the mainland to the list of regional countries for which its brokers sell incoming and outgoing bandwidth.

Ace, launched this year, enables telecom carriers, Internet service providers and multinational corporations to sell their excess bandwidth or buy it when need arises.

The limited number of operators that send and receive traffic on the mainland route resulted in limited traffic capacity, Ms Brillson said. The expansion of mobile networks and the rapidly growing penetration rate of mobile handsets may mean that the mainland bandwidth Ace would broker 'could be mobile traffic'.

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