Hutchison Telecom is suing the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta) in a move aimed at protecting its lucrative international roaming fees.
The dispute stems from a November Ofta decision which requires fixed-line operators to pay mobile carriers just 15.86 cents per minute for international call-forwarding services.
The services allow mobile customers to avoid incurring international roaming charges, which are as high as $12 per minute.
Users of the forwarding services designate an overseas telephone number to which their calls are directed. When a call is placed, it is diverted to the fixed-line carrier in Hong Kong, which then forwards the call to the designated number.
But mobile carriers are unhappy with the 15.86 cents per minute when they could be earning between $7 and $12 per minute from roaming charges.
The fixed-line carriers, for their part, typically earn $1 per minute for the forwarding services.
