he world is agog at the
changes wrought by the
online giants of commerce
and entertainment – big data
processing, cheap global
telecommunications, and what seems to
be the entirety of mankind’s learning at
our fingertips. In all this, one important
element and the role it plays in making
all this happen is often overlooked.
The information revolution would not
be possible without it. Invisible to the
general public, it is a powerful agent
enabling our transformed lives. It is the
power of broadband.
Hutchison Global Communications Limited
(HGC) recently celebrated 20 years of
pushing innovation to the people of Hong
Kong. HGC came online just as fibre-optics
were getting big, or, as Jennifer Tan,
Chief Operating Officer of Hutchison
Telecommunications Holdings Hong Kong
puts it, the company’s “timing perfectly fit
the development of fibre-optic”.
HGC’s broadband delivery is now among
the fastest and most accessible in the
world. In the beginning, it was mostly used
by corporate staff as fees were high in
order to allow the huge investment costs
of this new technology to be recouped.
But it was superior to the old copper wire
systems and business quickly figured out
how to get a return on their investment
through adopting the new technology.
The broadband company and its global
counterparts found themselves in a
virtuous circle. As users determined more
ways to use capacity, demand soared.
Hong Kong kept up by increasing capacity
by 25 times between 2005 and 2015.
HGC’s contribution is a network of over
1.43 million kilometers of fibre-optic cable,
enough to circle the earth about
36 times! Its extensive fibre-optic
network in Hong Kong, coupled with a fully
fledged international network, provides a
wide range of fixed-line telecommunications
services locally and overseas.
With a network across the city that now
can provide a big pipe for data to flow
through, HGC is in a position to deliver on
T
Broadband is the unsung hero of the information age. HGC has
delivered its benefits to the people of Hong Kong in both business and
entertainment. The pipes are fat and deliver a phat, fantastic future!
Broadband:
HGC’s Invisible
Agent of Change
Telecommunications
Sphere
#40
2016
24
Technology Focus
