THE folks at Hongkong Telecom must have mislaid their calculators when they were putting together their latest issue of Telecom News - either that or they have been offered some very funny exchange rates by their bankers.
We have already reported on one rather embarrassing slip-up in the claim: ''It will be cheaper for our customers to call from Hong Kong to any country, than from that country to Hong Kong.'' This was made by Peter Howell-Davies, Telecom's deputy chief executive.
Optus, an Australian telephone firm, offers much cheaper calls to Hong Kong than our telephone company offers in the other direction. And note that this is after the price cuts which Mr Howell-Davies says give us ''the lowest international rates in the world''.
In fact, Optus is not the exception. For instance, Sprint of the US offers calls to Hong Kong for 12 hours a day at a mere 77 US cents a minute for typical customers who pay a US$3 a month fee. This is HK$5.96 a minute, against the Hongkong Telecom minimum rate of $8.50 a minute.
Sprint's peak rate is slightly higher, however, and there are many different US carriers and rates, so US callers who don't shop around can still pay enough to make Hongkong Telecom's claim true.
On calls to the UK, however, Hongkong Telecom again is clearly more expensive. Mercury Communications is charging calls to Hong Kong at 77.4 pence a minute peak rate, 62.1 pence economy.