Hubert Ng Ching-wah knows the value of publicity. An ebullient advocate for talk-on-the-run, his career has spanned the range from businessman's brick phone to today's featherweight devices that promise to test new information frontiers.
In days past he was a willing company frontman, seemingly happiest when courting media attention. Now he has assumed a far lower profile at Australian controlled CSL, a high-margin operator that still garners the fattest returns in a sector driven by price discounting.
Speaking from a bright new Cyberport office overlooking a construction site and the sea, the CSL chief executive poses with a 2.5kg first-generation phone known affectionately as dai gor din wha from the days when only high-rolling businessmen could afford such luxury. Hong Kong's business press had known him by the same nickname and his recent retreat into near obscurity after shifting to Telstra had not gone unnoticed.
'I have worked under different cultures - I know how to survive different environments, cultures and leaderships,' he said.
His career has been split between the computer and telecommunications industries, having started with NCR, before moving on to work for Cable & Wireless HKT, Singapore M1, SmarTone Telecommunications and PCCW. When PCCW sold CSL to Telstra two years ago Mr Ng went with the deal.
CSL remains the business sector's network of choice, holding about 30 per cent market share. It charges as much as twice as its rivals despite conventional voice generation networks having only limited differentiating features. Of late, however, competitive pressures have begun to tell on its bottom line.
Two weeks ago CSL reported the slowest earnings growth among Hong Kong mobile operators with a 6.5 per cent rise in earnings before interest and tax of HK$597 million for the year. Telstra took the unusual step of not breaking out CSL's average customer spending or subscriber numbers when announcing its results. But Mr Ng said the basics of the industry had not changed, given the price war, with success hinging on good service.