Phone and Internet giant SmarTone on Thursday said it is axing nearly 60 jobs because Hong Kong's broadband industry is in a slump.
The company said subscriber numbers and price-cutting by competing providers had led to losses of HK$100 million and that the entire industry was disappointed by local computer users' lack of enthusiasm for broadband.
But SmarTone's two biggest rivals, Pacific Century CyberWorks-HKT and i-Cable, said their broadband businesses were flourishing. They said hundreds of new subscribers were signing up every day and that the take-up rate outstripped that in many countries.
SmarTone spokesman Ritchie Ma Si-ping said the job losses were from positions across the company, but were all linked to broadband.
'The overall market environment and sentiment in the industry has changed quite dramatically, and unfortunately that change has been quite adverse. The expectations for broadband business have not been met and our projections have not been realised,' he said.
Mr Ma said SmarTone had 'a few thousand' broadband customers whom it would continue to service. They paid between HK$100 and HK$200 per month. He said the company had lost about HK$100 million on its broadband venture.