Hong Kong - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Hong Kong’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the mobile, internet, broadband and converging media sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Regional market comparisons - BuddeComm's Telecom Maturity Index
Major players;
Market statistics, including for operators;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure;
Broadband (FttH, DSL, cable TV, wireless);
Convergence and Digital Media;
Forecasts to 2022 for mobile, mobile broadband and fixed broadband.

Reseracher:- Phil Harpur
Current publication date:- March 2018 (24th Edition)

Executive Summary

Hong Kong moves forward in its quest to become a Smart City

Hong Kong’s small size and high population density has enabled the country to extensively rollout fixed broadband infrastructure and provide almost all households with access to high-speed broadband connectivity. This has propelled Hong Kong to boast the highest peak average broadband speeds in the world.

Hong Kong is ranked 2nd out of 34 with an Asian Telecoms Maturity Index score of 90. This places Hong Kong 2nd in the “Market Leaders” category. (BuddeComm’s “Asian Telecoms Maturity Index”, is an index (on a scale between 0 and 100) that measures and ranks the relative maturity of the telecoms industry in all of the 34 countries in Asia.) Compared to other Asian nations, Hong Kong has very high mobile, mobile broadband and fixed broadband penetration.

International internet connectivity continues to grow, driven by Hong Kong’s status as an international financial hub and its location next to China.

Fixed line growth in Hong Kong has declined over the past five years as consumers migrate to wireless voice and data services. This trend is predicted to continue over the next five years to 2022.

The government has taken steps towards coordinated development of a smart city. The Hong Kong government announced a range of measures in six areas, including “Smart Mobility”, “Smart Living”, and “Smart Environment”, which will be introduced over the next five years to 2022.

Broadband investment initially focused on DSL and HFC technology platforms although operators have switched focus to higher bandwidth fibre access platforms, due to inherent advantage of fibre access networks over competing platforms, especially in the geographically compact territory of Hong Kong.

Fixed-line broadband market penetration has grown slowly over the past five years in a highly mature market. Over the next five years to 2022 growth is expected to continue to increase slowly.

Demand for broadband is driven by consumption of bandwidth-intensive online services such as OTT video, music and games; the proliferation of Internet connected devices including TVs, smartphones, tablets and PCs; and increasing usage of corporate broadband services that include cloud services and software.

Hong Kong possesses a small but well developed mobile market and a number of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). Intense competition within a small market has led to consolidation, with the number of mobile network operators reduced to four.

Mobile subscriber penetration is now well over 200% due to the high number of tourists visiting Hong Kong and high number of local residents with more than one mobile device. Mobile subscriber growth is expected to be relatively low over the next five years to 2022 due to a highly mature and highly competitive market.

Strong infrastructure-based competition has forced operators to continually upgrade network capacity and speed, deploying mobile broadband technologies such as HSPA and LTE combined with wireless broadband technologies such as WiFi.

Mobile broadband subscriber growth is expected to be relatively low over the next five years to 2022 due to a highly mature mobile subscriber market, with a significant proportion of subscribers already having mobile broadband access.

The government of Hong Kong expects the territory to be among the world’s earliest adopters of 5G mobile technology in 2020. During 2017 /2018 a number of Hong Kong Mobile Operators are paving the way for the introduction of 5G services.

Key developments:

HGC Global Communications is looking to 5G as a key opportunity for its fibre business.
HKT has set up a "one-stop Internet of Things ecosystem" with multiple connectivity technologies in Hong Kong.
Fixed line growth in Hong Kong has declined over the past five years. This trend will continue over the next five years to 2022.
Hong Kong expects the territory to be among the world's earliest adopters of 5G mobile technology in 2020.
SmarTone trialled FDD Massive MIMO technology with Ericsson as part of its development plans towards 5G services.
Mobile broadband subscriber growth is expected to be relatively low over the next five years to 2022

Companies mentioned in this report:

PCCW; HKT; CSL; Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN); Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, i-Cable, HGC Global Communications.

Phil Harpur
March 2018

Table of Contents

Key statistics
Telecommunications market

Market Overview and Analysis
Regional Asian Market Comparison

Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authority
OFCA (Office of the Communications Authority)
Government policies

Telecom Sector Liberalisation
Universal Service Obligation (USO)
Digital 21 IT Strategy
FttB/FttH building registration scheme
Number Portability (NP)

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Hong Kong Telecom (HKT)

Company overview
Company background

Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN)
Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong Holdings (HTHKH)

Company overview
Company background

HGC Global Communications
i-Cable

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network

Fixed-line statistics

International infrastructure

Submarine cable networks

Specific IT developments

Data Centres

Smart infrastructure

Introduction
IoT
Smart Grids
Smart Cities

Broadband market

Market Overview and Analysis
Fixed Broadband Statistics and Forecasts
Fixed Broadband Service Providers
Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP)

Overview
Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN)
HKT
i-Cable

Other fixed broadband services

WiFi

Digital economy

Introduction
E-Commerce
E-Payments
E-Government

E-government statistics
E-Government Infrastructure Services (EGIS)
E-government network
Smart Card

E-Health

Overview of Hong Kong’s healthcare system
ICT usage in Hong Kong’s healthcare system
Electronic Health Record
Improving the accuracy of drug dispensing

E-Education

Digital media

Introduction
Pay TV
Key Digital Media Players

PCCW
i-cable
Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB)
Asia Television Ltd (ATV)

Hybrid fibre coax cable (HFC) and microwave multipoint distribution system (MMDS)
Internet Protocol TV (IPTV)
Analogue transmission
Digital terrestrial transmission
Videostreaming
Social Media
Communications: VoIP, messaging, conferencing
Music

Introduction
Major players

Mobile communications

Market Overview and analysis

Background

Mobile Statistics and Forecasts
Mobile Broadband Statistics and Forecasts
Regulatory issues

Licensing
Spectrum
Mobile number portability (MNP)

Mobile infrastructure

Analogue networks
Digital networks
Other infrastructure developments
IoT and M2M Networks

Major mobile operators

Operator Statistics
Hong Kong Telecom (HKT)
Hutchison Telekom (3 Hutchison)
SmarTone
China Mobile Hong Kong
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO)

Mobile content and applications

m-Banking
m-Trading
m-TV

List of Tables

Table 1 – Country statistics Hong Kong – 2017 (e)
Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 3 – Internet user statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 4 – Broadband statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 5 – Mobile statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 6 – National telecommunications authorities
Table 7 – Percentage of Population Covered by Type of Mobile Network
Table 8 – Key Metrics - Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) - 2017 – 2022
Table 9 – Digital 21 Strategy – key indicators
Table 10 – Historic - Total fixed numbers ported – 2005 – 2016
Table 11 – HKBN – broadband subscribers (thousands) – business v. residential - 2013 – 2017
Table 12 – i-Cable subscribers per service – 2008 – 2017
Table 13 – Fixed Line Subscriptions and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Table 14 – Historic - Fixed-line telephony subscribers – 2000 – 2015
Table 15 – International bandwidth – 2012 – 2017
Table 16 – Fixed Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Table 17 – Internet Users and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Table 18 – Historic - Fixed broadband internet access subscribers – 2000 – 2016
Table 19 – Historic - Residential broadband subscriptions by technology platform – 2010 – 2016
Table 20 – Historic - Residential broadband ARPU – 2010 – 2016
Table 21 – HKT - broadband subscribers (thousands)– 2007 – 2017
Table 22 – Hong Kong Broadband – residential broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2017
Table 23 – HKT – total broadband subscribers (millions) – 2011 – 2017
Table 24 – HKT – fibre broadband subscribers – 2003 – 2017
Table 25 – Number of public WiFi access point and WiFi zones – 2007 – 2016
Table 26 – Mobile Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Table 27 – Historic - Mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration – 1984 – 2006
Table 28 – Historic - Prepaid and activated SIM cards – 1997 – 2015
Table 29 – Historic - 3G/4G mobile subscribers – 2005 – 2016
Table 30 – Historic - Mobile data usage per person – 2005 – 2015
Table 31 – Historic - SMS messages sent and received – 2002 – 2015
Table 32 – Mobile Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2009 – 2022
Table 33 – Historic - Total mobile numbers ported
Table 34 – Mobile operators - subscribers and market share – 2017
Table 35 – HKT - prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2005 – 2017
Table 36 – HKT financial data - (HK$ million) – 2016 – 2017
Table 37 – 3 Hutchison - mobile subscribers – 1998 – 2017
Table 38 – Historic – 3 Hutchison - mobile subscribers 2G and 3G postpaid and total
Table 39 – 3 Hutchison – Services Revenue – 2016 – 2017
Table 40 – 3 Hutchison - postpaid ARPU, AMPU and churn – 2010 – 2017
Table 41 – SmarTone financial data – 2009 – 2017
Table 42 – SmarTone – Blended ARPU – 2002 – 2017
Table 43 – SmarTone subscribers – 1998 – 2017
Table 44 – SmarTone spectrum holdings – January 2015
Table 45 – China Mobile Hong Kong – Mobile Services Revenue – 2016 – 2017
Table 46 – China Mobile Hong Kong - subscribers and annual change – 1998 – 2017
Table 47 – Historic - MVNO subscribers – 2005 – 2016

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Mobile, Mobile Broadband & Fixed Broadband Penetration – 2017; 2022
Chart 2 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index by Market Category
Chart 3 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index – Northern Asia
Chart 4– Asian Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 5– Fixed Broadband vs Mobile Penetration - Northern Asia (selected countries)
Chart 6 – Fixed Line Subscriptions and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Chart 7 – Fixed Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Chart 8 – Internet Users and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Chart 9 – Mobile Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Chart 10 – Mobile Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2009 – 2022

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Key Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 – Northern Asia -Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country
Exhibit 3 – Major submarine cables with landing points in Hong Kong
Exhibit 4 – Popular online activities
Exhibit 5 – Advantages of e-learning
Exhibit 6 – Transmission modes employed by TV licensees
Exhibit 7 –TV broadcasting licensees
Exhibit 8 – Radio broadcasting licensees
Exhibit 9 – HTHKH frequency allocations – June 2015

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Annual Publication Profile

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Mobile Communications (voice and infrastructure)
Regulations & Government Policies
Strategies & Analyses (Industry & Markets)
Telecoms Infrastructure

Number of pages 134

Status Current

Last updated 13 Mar 2018
Update History

Analyst: Phil Harpur

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Hong Kong - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Hong Kong moves forward in its quest to become a Smart City

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Digital economy

Digital media

Mobile communications