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| .hk Hong Kong |
| John Yat Chu Fung |
Overview The digital access index released by ITU in November 2003 ranked Hong Kong seventh overall among 178 economies, second in the Asia-Pacific region. Hong Kong fared particularly well in terms of Internet affordability: with its Internet cost being only 0.19 percent of per-capita income, it provides the most affordable Internet access in the world. Hong Kong has 14.6 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, placing it second after South Korea among the 178 economies assessed. It was ranked fifth in the world in mobile penetration, with 91.6 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. The latest figure (September 2004) provided by the Office of Telecommunications Authority was 117 mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Being mainly a service-oriented economy, Hong Kong has a strong dependency on international trade and commerce. Connection to the global economy via the application of ICT is considered a way to sharpen Hong Kong’s competitive edge. The government in its Digital 21 policy paper describes ICT as a basic infrastructure of an information society. It believes that ICT should provide the foundation for creativity, e-government as well as economic expansion and transformation. To this end, the government’s efforts in harnessing the power of ICT were obvious in 2003 - 2004. All sectors of the telecommunications market were liberalised from 1 January 2003 to encourage competition and provision of services at affordable prices. Four 3G licences were issued in October 2001, and 3G services were rolled out in January 2004. Hong Kong was among the first group of economies in the world to open up the relevant frequency bands for wireless services based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. Amendments to the Electronic Transactions Ordinance were introduced in June 2003 to ensure an up-to-date legal framework for e-business. By end 2003, 90 percent of public services amenable to electronic delivery became available online, with some 180 public services from over 50 government departments and public agencies being offered via the Electronic Services Delivery Scheme. In addition, over 80 percent of government procurement tenders were conducted through electronic means. Moreover, the government rolled out a major IT project in June 2003; the multi-application smart identity card for Hong Kong citizens. The card can store a digital certificate, serve as a public library card and be used for automated immigration clearance at border control points. It will also serve as a driving licence in 2006. Since 2001, the government has been conducting annual thematic household surveys on the penetration and usage of IT. According to the 2004 survey, 71.1 percent of households had PCs compared to 67.5 percent the previous year, while 64.9 percent of households with PCs (excluding palmtops and PDAs) were connected to the Internet compared to 60.0 percent the year earlier. Out of the population aged 10 years and older, 61.3 percent had knowledge in using PCs and 59.5 percent reported that they had used a computer in the past 12 months. This population, totalling 3.67 million people, reported spending an average of 27.1 hours per week on the computer. The take-up of e-commerce remained low. Only 14.4 percent of those aged above 15 years had made use of e-commerce for personal transactions in 2004, recording a slight increase from 13.1 percent in 2003. Likewise, the level of online purchasing activities remained low at 7.1 percent among those aged 15 years and older, achieving only a 0.1 percent increase from 2003. And for those transactions that actually took place, the median spending was HK$580 (US$1 = HK$7.8), 54.2 percent of the transactions being ticket reservations. Despite government efforts in promoting e-government and e-services, only 28.5 percent of persons aged 15 and older had used online government services for personal transactions in 2004, compared to 24.3 percent in 2003. On the other hand, the promotion of digital certificates seems more effective, with the proportion of computer users aged 15 years and older who had digital certificates rising almost fourfold from 3.4 percent to 12.4 percent. Conceivably, the rise could be related to the offer of a one-year free digital. . . . . . the complete text of this chapter is available for purchase and immediate download as a PDF file, please click here for more information. |
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