When Hong Kong's biggest telecommunications firm reported its results last week, investors were looking for signs that the decline in its market share was slowing and healthier times beckoned.
They returned a mixed score card after PCCW reported worse than headline profits and an 8 per cent drop in its core telecommunications revenue.
On the same day was the formal launch of a pay-television service that lacks critical content but advances the notion of an integrated provider of multimedia services.
Few observers expect its mixture of largely foreign content to threaten established media players but the launch promises to reinforce its position as Hong Kong's dominant broadband player.
Yet the real news in PCCW's half-year statement was perhaps the formal launch of a campaign to roll back the regulatory straitjacket that enforces mandatory interconnection to its network and imposes a raft of restrictions aimed at curbing its dominance.
PCCW has applied to the relevant authorities for a change of status to a 'non-dominant' carrier, saying such constraints unfairly restrict the way it competes.
