PCCW, the incumbent operator in Hong Kong, said now Broadband TV, it's a la carte pay-TV service for broadband subscribers, has achieved "critical mass", with over 316,000 customers (or nearly half of its major competitor's customer base) signing up by the end of June 2004, less than one year after launch.
Now Broadband TV, which launched in September 2003, has since gained exclusive Hong Kong rights to broadcast ESPN and Star Sports. The company is also creating an exclusive 24-Hour Cantonese news channel.
Overall, PCCW reported a total of 753,000 broadband subscribers in Hong Kong as of the end of Q2, up by 20% over last year.
At the same time, the introduction of New Generation Fixed Line (NGFL) service has significantly improved customer retention rates in PCCW's core telephony business. The NGFL service, launched in July 2003, now has 849,000 lines signed up as of June 30, 2004. This has slowed average net monthly line loss by more than 60% since first half 2003 and helped boost customer retention in a fiercely competitive market, that has been liberalized since 1995.
PCCW also noted that over the past year it has been successful in litigating against Hong Kong regulators over what it considers to be unfair restrictions on the company's ability to compete in the fixed-line market.
As part of its quarterly financial report, PCCW said revenue for its Telecommunications Services division fell 11% in the first half to HK$7.496 billion (US$ 961 million) from HK$8.386 billion (US$1.075 billion) a year earlier, due to competition from other fixed-line operators and wireless telecommunications services. http://www.pccw.com
- PCCW's New Generation fixed-line services use "big-screen" phones to support information services such as SMS to other fixed-line phones and mobiles.
