Hong Kong has tremendous telecoms capacity as a result of market deregulation, but it will be many years before bandwidth becomes a freely traded commodity.
Before the issuance of a number of external facilities licences at the beginning of last year, international capacity landing in Hong Kong was 44 gigabits per second, while an additional 480 gbps was expected as a result of the new licences, M. H. Au, deputy director general of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, told the Telecoms Infotech Forum yesterday.
Prices on private leased lines had been cut by at least half, Mr Au said. Others at the conference suggested rates on some routes had come down by as much as 80 per cent.
However, the availability of this capacity still did not mean bandwidth would be traded freely and easily, some industry observers said.
Some of the undersea fibre is 'unlit' because companies see no need to spend on the electricity that will be needed.
Several companies set up to trade bandwidth, including Asian Capacity Exchange (Ace), have failed in the past year, leaving only London-based Band-X, which does not expect a robust bandwidth market in Hong Kong soon.
Band-X vice-president Fred Morales said: 'In the short-term, it's not going to happen. In the long-term, it is going to happen.'
