Innovation to be sales highlight for Star Paging

STAR Paging (International Holding) is expanding into the China market with a host of patent designs, says chairman Nelson Wong Kam-fu.

He said profit margins in China's telecommunications market were at least 20 to 30 per cent.

'It is quite a good margin, given the fact that we are just offering facilities,' he said.

He said competition was escalating in the domestic paging market, and Star was positioning itself to cash in on the vast market across the border. The company intends to try out a paging service in Shanghai next month that would alert owners to any movement in their bank accounts.

Star senior business development manager Ko Chun-fung said the signals would be sent through Star's own radio system or through the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

'The signals would be sent out with encryptions to make sure that only the pager owner receives them,' he said.

Star's other anticipated money spinner would be the introduction of a security system for mobile telephones.

China mobile users are plagued with an acute phoneline piracy problem.

Star intended to sell the system for $500,000 to mobile phone companies with a '99.9 per cent' security guarantee.

The system has been developed over two years and Star has applied for patents in China, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, the United States, and Britain.

The telecommunications ministry was offering a national paging system network for tender and Star was one of about seven bidders, Mr Wong said.

The others were from Taiwan, Europe and the United States.