Data centre operator decries rivals’ subletting of government subsided space as unfair

Peter Yan King-shun, who joined SuneVision as chief executive in 2013, has more than 31 years of experience in the information and technology industry. Yan was an executive director and group chief executive of Computer And Technologies Holdings. Prior to joining C&T in April 2000, he had held senior management positions in consulting and information technology services companies including Accenture and Tradelink Electronic Commerce.

“The scope of SuneVision is bigger than the companies I worked at before. It is not just an IT firm, but also a property-related company as it involves physical spaces for data centres,” Yan said. While enjoying the nature of the job, Yan said there were still many challenges ahead.

Companies in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate have violated the rules by subletting data centre spaces to tenants to make a profit. How do they affect SuneVision?

This is unfair to us. These data centre operators obtained the sites at subsidised rates, allowing them to offer their tenants rates that are much lower than ours. (SuneVision’s premises are not in the estate.) The government stated clearly that subletting of the premises to other parties was not allowed, but I don’t see that the problem has been solved.

There are companies subletting spaces for a profit. I am not saying all operators in the estate are subletting spaces. The data centres of HSBC and the Hong Kong exchange are for their own use.

The government will be selling two data centre sites outside the industrial estate in Tseung Kwan O in the future. But who will submit a bid if the subletting problem cannot be solved?

Is this one reason why SuneVision reported a declining operating profit margin? (Operating profit margin fell from 63.98 per cent in 2015 to 60.91 per cent in 2016.)