Hong Kong Telecom seeks out alternative markets

NEWS Hong Kong Telecom is set to open up new sources of revenue with a $2bn investment in mobile phone services in China, and plans to expand into property development. Linus Cheung, CEO of Hong Kong Telecom, a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, said the company is going through a major transformation from monopoly to competition. He added that it is ready to invest in a mobile phone service should Beijing open its telecommunications market to foreigners. Cheung also said property development will account for 5 to 10 per cent of the company's revenue within the next decade. Hong Kong Telecom was granted $864.6m in government compensation when it lost its monopoly over the city's long-distance services on 1 January this year.