Hong Kong homes get wired via HKT IMS. NEC to supply
Ray Van Eng (11/29/96)
In the summer of 1997 amid the changing of the guards from the British back to China, 30,000 homes in the territory will be able to receive the cutting edge multimedia service which is scheduled to increase rapidly to reach 90,000 homes by the spring of 1998 and 250,000 by 1999. The entire project will cost Hongkong Telecom IMS about US$860 million.
NEC Corporation in Japan and its subsidiary in Europe will provide the UNIX based video servers (600 in all by 1999) and the network system that makes use of the FTTB (Fiber To The Building) technology and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) switches to carry broadband multimedia data from the HKT's central offices to the homes and office buildings. The digital signal will then be transmitted over existing coaxial cables to the customer's premise by using VDSL (Very high-speed Digital Subscribers Line) capable of delivering 52 Mbps. NEC will also supply a total of 250,000 (by 1999) digital set-top boxes which are required to decode the MPEG2 (Motion Picture Expert Group 2) compressed video stream for display on subscribers' television sets. A personal computer can be hooked up to the set-top box for high speed Internet access which will become the premier service of HKT's existing Internet offering known as the "NETVIGATOR". Though Hongkong Telecom no longer has the exclusive right to provide local telephone services since mid 1995, the firm will retain the exclusive license to provide international services until 2006. Hongkong Telecom is 58% owned by its UK parent, Cable & Wireless plc. For further information, you can log onto their web site at www.hkt.net. |
© Copyright Ray Van Eng 1997 - 1999. All Rights Reserved.
A
quarter of a million homes may not seem much in a city with about 7 or
8 million people, but the penetration of the IMS services will be felt
everywhere as Hong Kong has some of the most densely populated areas in
the world and watching television is very much a community event. The citizens
of Hong Kong are also very receptive to new ideas that offer dynamic entertainment
values.