Hong Kong Telecom

HKT Limited (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司), also known as Hong Kong Telecom (Chinese: 香港電訊), is one of the largest telecommunications company of Hong Kong. It has a dominant position in fixed-line, mobile, IDD and broadband services in Hong Kong. HKT Group is a subsidiary of PCCW since 2000, after it was acquired from Cable & Wireless plc.

Not to be confused with Communications in Hong Kong.

HKT
Formerly
  • Hong Kong Telecommunications
  • Cable & Wireless HKT
  • PCCW-HKT
Public
Traded asSEHK: 6823
IndustryTelecommunications
Predecessor
  • Hongkong Telephone Company
  • Cable & Wireless (Hong Kong)
Founded
  • 1925 (as Hongkong Telephone)
  • 1987 (as Hong Kong Telecom)
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
Richard Li
BrandsNetvigator
Services
Revenue HK$33.3 billion (2017)
HK$5.1 billion (2017)
Total assets HK$95.4 billion (2017)
Total equity HK$39 billion (2017)
Number of employees
 over 17,600 (2017)
ParentPCCW
Subsidiaries
Websitehttp://www.hkt.com
Footnotes / references
in consolidated financial statement[1]

The company, along with HKT Trust (Chinese: 香港電訊信託), is a pair of listed corporations in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which the two corporations were bundled as one single stapled security.

Corporate identities

The former holding company of the group was Cable & Wireless HKT Limited (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司; former ticker symbol: 8), it was a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless plc. It was taken over and privatised by PCCW in 2000.[2] PCCW also started to use the ticker symbol "8" after the takeover. Cable & Wireless HKT Limited was formerly known as Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司), which was incorporated in 1987;[3] it was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT Limited in 1999,[3] but renamed again to PCCW-HKT Limited in 2000;[3] PCCW-HKT still use the same registered Chinese name (香港電訊有限公司) until 2011, which in the same year the Chinese name became the registered Chinese name of HKT Limited instead.[3]

PCCW-HKT had a major subsidiary PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited (Chinese: 香港電話有限公司),[4] which was incorporated in 1925 under the name Hongkong Telephone Company, Limited;[3] it was briefly known as Cable & Wireless HKT Telephone Limited (Chinese: 香港電話有限公司) from 1999 to 2000.[3] As of 31 December 2017, PCCW-HKT[1]:80 as well as PCCW-HKT Telephone were still live, wholly owned subsidiaries of PCCW.[1]:78 However, the telephone services is now provided by HKT's wholly owned subsidiary Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited instead,[5] after a group restructure in 2008.[6]

In October 2011, PCCW shareholders approve a partial spin-off of the assets as HKT on the Hong Kong stock exchange (but excluding the two legal persons PCCW-HKT and PCCW-HKT Telephone). HKT is successfully listed on 29 November 2011, as HKT Limited and HKT Trust.[7][8] HKT Limited was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, while its direct parent entity, HKT Trust, was set up in Hong Kong under the laws of Hong Kong.[5]

History

Domestic telecommunications facilities in Hong Kong became more advanced in 1925 when the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC) took over the interests of John Pender's China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company. The company's mandate included providing all the British colonies with local telephone services. Over the next six decades Hong Kong Telephone's line capacity grew to more than 2.5 million, with the company serving approximately six million people.[9]

Telecommunications became increasingly important following World War I, and in 1929 the British companies Marconi Wireless and Eastern Telegraph joined to establish Cable & Wireless. The company's strategy was to supply telephone and telegraph services in Britain's colonies, and it succeeded in securing an exclusive franchise to provide international communications services in Hong Kong.[9]

By 1972 the company's biggest operation was its subsidiary in rapidly growing Hong Kong. Hong Kong Telephone, meanwhile, built a new headquarters in 1972. The company's growth was said to typify the colony's transition from an economy based on manufacturing to one dependent on service industries, which created a demand for telecommunications services. In 1975 Hong Kong Telephone's franchise for domestic service in the colony was extended for an additional 20 years, to expire just ahead of Hong Kong's reversion to China's control in 1997.[9]

Chronology

Hong Kong Telephone Company
  • 1906: China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company acquired a 25-year franchised licence on fixed-line.[10]
  • 1925: China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company was acquired[11] by Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC). The government also granted HKTC a 50 years franchised licence on telephone service.[12][13]
  • 1968: HKTC's franchise was extended for another 20 years.[13]
  • 1983: HKTC started to build their own mobile radiotelephone service, which was supplied and installed by NEC;[14] in the next year the service went public under HKTC's subsidiary Communication Services Limited[13]

Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong)
The Eastern Telegraph Company network in 1901, on the right was the Asia-Pacific network of the company
  • 1871: The predecessor of Cable & Wireless established its Hong Kong branch, for its submarine communications cables that connect from Hong Kong to Saigon, Fuzhou, Manila, Labuan and Macau[10] (or 1936 according to another source[15])
  • 1962: Cable & Wireless acquired a 25-year franchise for telephone and telegraph services[13]
  • 1981: The Hong Kong branch of Cable & Wireless plc was incorporated as Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong) Limited (later known as Hong Kong Telecom International; HKTI).[9] Hong Kong government was a minority shareholder for 20%.[15]
  • 1983: Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong) acquired 34.8% shares of HKTC from Jardine Matheson.[15]
  • 1986: Cable & Wireless also announced plans for an underwater optical fibre cable connecting Hong Kong with Japan and South Korea (a part of APCN), to become operational in 1990.[9]

Hong Kong Telecommunications
  • 1987: Cable & Wireless (Hong Kong) and Hong Kong Telephone Company merged to form a new telecommunications group, with the new holding company called Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited, replacing Hong Kong Telephone Company as a listed company on the stock exchange of Hong Kong[16][15] and as one of the constituents of Hang Seng Index (the blue-chip index of HK). Government of Hong Kong owned around 5.5% shares of the new company immediately after the merger; Cable & Wireless plc remained as the largest shareholder.[16]
  • 1990: Chinese government controlled CITIC Hong Kong acquired 20% shares of Hong Kong Telecommunications from former British state owned enterprise Cable & Wireless plc.[15]
  • 1995: HKTC's franchise expired. HKTC was one of the 4 companies to receive the new licence in local fixed-line services[13]
  • 1999: Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT;[17] the subsidiaries, HKTC was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT Telephone Limited;[3][18] HKTI was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT International.[3]
  • 2000: Cable & Wireless HKT was acquired by PCCW. Cable & Wireless HKT was renamed to PCCW-HKT Limited;[19] the subsidiary HKTC was renamed to PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited;[20] while HKTI was renamed to PCCW-HKT International[3]
  • 2001: the subsidiary HKTI was renamed to Reach Networks Hong Kong,[3] it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Reach Limited instead, a joint venture of PCCW and Telstra;[21] 60% stake of CSL was also sold to Telstra[22]
  • 2002: the remaining stake of CSL, the only mobile network operator of the group, was sold to Telstra
  • 2005: PCCW-HKT takeover Sunday Communications,[23][24] relaunching its mobile network operator as PCCW Mobile
  • 2007: PCCW-HKT Telephone acquired the licence of CDMA2000 mobile network operator,[25] and launched the services in the next year.[26]
  • 2008 to 2011: Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited was incorporated; Moody's ceased to assign credit rating to PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited and assign a new rating to Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited instead; it was reported that PCCW-HKT Telephone would become dormant.[6] In the same year, some of the subsidiaries of PCCW, were transferred to an intermediate holding company HKT Group Holdings Limited (HKTGH[27]:42), for example PCCW Global, PCCW Mobile, PCCW Media, PCCW Solutions, and engineering division Cascade Limited.[27]:166 However, PCCW re-organised HKTGH again in the eve of the 2011 IPO of HKT Limited, which some non-telecommunications businesses were spin-off from HKTGH.[27]:167 PCCW Media and PCCW Solutions for example, were directly owned by PCCW again.[28] Also, HKTGH became a subsidiary of HKT Limited.[27]:169

HKT Limited
  • 2011: PCCW made HKT Limited, c/o HKT Trust, a spin-off business that separate listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange.[8]
  • 2012: HKT's PCCW Global acquired Gateway Communications, a satellite services provider[29]
  • 2014: HKT re-acquired CSL (known as its holding company CSL New World Mobility) from Telstra and New World Development; CSL and PCCW Mobile merged, with CSL as the surviving brand; the brand New World Mobility of the former CSL New World Mobility Group was renamed to Sun Mobile
  • 2017: HKT and subsidiary PCCW Global jointly-acquired Console Connect, a provider of global interconnection solution.[30]

Subsidiaries and services
See also: PCCW § Brands and services

Former service

Controversy

In 2018, it was exposed that HKT breached the land leases for 4 of their telephone exchange buildings. They were illegally converted to customers service centers.[43]

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References
  1. "2017 Annual Report" (PDF). HKT Limited c/o HKT Trust. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018 – via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  2. "Telecommunications Authority makes interconnection determination to implement IDD liberalisation". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  3. Data in Hong Kong Companies Registry
  4. Report on the competition impact of the acquisition of shares in SUNDAY by PCCW (PDF). Hong Kong: Office of the Communications Authority. 5 July 2005. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  5. 2016 Annual Report (PDF). HKT Trust c/o HKT Limited. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  6. "Rating Action: Moody's assigns Baa2 rating to HKT; outlook negative" (Press release). Moody's. 28 November 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. "HKT TRUST AND HKT LTD. – SS (6823)". Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  8. "PCCW spin-off raises HK$9.3b in global I.P.O." South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  9. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 30. St. James Press, 2000.
  10. 趙雨樂; 鍾寶賢; 李澤恩, eds. (2017) [written in Japanese circa 1920s]. 香港要覽（外三種） [Hong Kong crucial guide book plus three other sources] (in Chinese). Translated by 梁英杰; 高翔; 樊敏麗. Joint Publishing (Hong Kong). p. 101. ISBN 978-962-04-3454-9.
  11. "Telephone Question. Terms new agreed upon. Must be confirm by council". The Hong Kong Telegraph. 19 February 1925. p. 1 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS.
  12. 鄭, 宏泰; 高, 皓. 白手興家：香港家族與社會 1841–1941 (in Chinese). Chung Hwa Book Company (Hong Kong). p. 210.
  13. "Telecom Milestones". Hong Kong: Office of the Telecommunications Authority. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  14. 電話今後六年　投資逾五十億　將發展流動無線電電話 [Telephone will invest 5 billion in the next 6 years; will develop mobile radiotelephone]. The Kung Sheung Evening News (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Industrial and Commercial Daily Press. 30 March 1983 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS.
  15. 郭國燦. 香港中資財團 (in Chinese). pp. 218–219.
  16. 電話與大東電報合併　改名為香港電訊上市　兩股電話換一新公司股份另五送一股證　合併後總市值八百多億成本港最大上市公司. Ta Kung Pao (in Chinese). Hong Kong. 20 October 1987 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries MMIS.
  17. "Hong Kong: Telecoms and technology background". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  18. "Broadband Interconnection" (PDF). Hong Kong: Office of the Communications Authority. 3 November 1999. p. 7. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  19. Milestones of Telecommunications in Hong Kong Archived 8 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Cable & Wireless HKT, CyberWorks fall after pact
  21. "Continuing connected transactions" (PDF) (Press release). Pacific Century Premium Developments. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2019 – via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  22. "Telstra and PCCW Launch Joint Ventures" (PDF) (Press release). Reach. 7 February 2001. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  23. Lau, Justine (13 June 2005). Written at Hong Kong. "PCCW returns to wireless with Sunday buy". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  24. Lee, Mark; Wong, Ka-chun (14 June 2005). "PCCW returns to mobiles with $1.94b bid for Sunday". The Standard. Hong Kong: Sing Tao News Corporation. Archived from the original on 9 March 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  25. "Results of spectrum auction for provision of CDMA2000 mobile services" (Press release). Hong Kong: Office of the Telecommunications Authority. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  26. Hong Kong's CDMA2000 Mobile Network Finally Launched
  27. Global Offering (PDF) (prospectus). HKT Limited c/o HKT Trust. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2020 – via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  28. 2011 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). Hong Kong: PCCW. 26 March 2012. pp. 97–98. Retrieved 18 March 2019 – via Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website.
  29. "VODACOM Gateway unit sold for $26m". Independent Online. Cape Town: Independent Media (Pty) Ltd. Bloomberg. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  30. "Console Connect Acquired" (Press release). PCCW Global. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  31. "About Us". Hong Kong: PPS. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  32. 繳費靈4戶口被盜15萬　17歲少年　承認46項罪　判教導所. Apple Daily (in Chinese). Hong Kong. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  33. "The Club rewards HKT Premier customers for their loyalty". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  34. "The Club | An exciting rewards program | Offers you a variety of events and privileges to meet your lifestyle and entertainment needs". www.theclub.com.hk. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  35. "About Us". Hong Kong: HKT Teleservices. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  36. "HKT debuts Tap & Go NFC payment service". ComputerWorld Hong Kong. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  37. "Hong Kong's HKT expands mobile payment service as part of fintech push". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  38. 香港電訊檢討固網月費. The Sun (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Oriental Press Group. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  39. 被游說裝 eye多媒睇得物無所用. Apple Daily (in Chinese). Hong Kong. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  40. "PCCW Global to link Rodrigues with high speed undersea cable for Mauritius Telecom" (Press release). Hong Kong: PCCW Global. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  41. "Lingering legacy of iTV". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  42. "iTV chief expects to break even in 2 years". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. 21 October 1998. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  43. "HKT slapped with warning after four service centres found in breach of land leases". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
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