Hong Kong Government Promotes Adoption of M-Commerce

by Mary Swire, Tax-news.com, Hong Kong

25 May 2001

Speaking at a conference on mobile-commerce this week, Acting Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Cheng Yan-chee, described Hong Kong's advanced telecommunications infrastructure as 'one of our key strengths,' and re-iterated the government's intention to encourage local businesses to make use of the developed information infrastructure by seizing the' huge business potential' of m-commerce.

Earlier this month the government published details of its 2001 Strategy, which will assist Hong Kong in retaining its competitive edge and drive its overall economic expansion. It also set out its vision to make Hong Kong a leading e-business community as well as a leading digital city in the globally connected world.

'We have one of the most vibrant mobile telecommunications markets in the world with a mobile phone service penetration rate of 78 per cent, which is amongst the highest in the world. Our broadband networks now cover all commercial buildings and over 95 per cent of the households in Hong Kong,' claimed Mr Cheng.

He added: 'According to a recent industry research, 60 per cent of Internet users will go on-line using mobile devices by 2005. However, only seven per cent of companies world-wide now have web sites that are accessible with these devices. You can see a huge business potential there.'

Apart from the well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, the Government has also established the information infrastructure necessary for the development of m-commerce in Hong Kong. Mr Cheng said: 'To instil the public's confidence in the conduct of secure electronic transactions, the Government has taken the lead in the establishment of a recognised public certification authority (CA) through the Hongkong Post to enable an early implementation of a public key infrastructure (PKI) in Hong Kong.'

The government says that it also intends to explore the potential of mobile devices as an additional delivery channel so that the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme could become an even more convenient way for obtaining public services. The ESD is a flagship Government-to-Citizen and Government-to-Business web site, through which the public can acquire a wide range of services on the Internet and public information kiosks 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Mr Cheng declared: 'We will continue to encourage competition and innovation under an open, fair and predictable regulatory framework to ensure that Hong Kong can have a world-class telecommunications platform sustainable to the rapid growth of e-commerce in the Information Age.'

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