Hong Kong Broadband Network

Hong Kong Broadband Network

File:HKBN.gif
Company type	Internet Service Provider
ISIN	KYG451581055
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Hong Kong
Website	http://www.hkbn.net/

Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN, simplified Chinese: 香港宽频网络有限公司; traditional Chinese: 香港寬頻網絡有限公司; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Kuānpín yǒuxìangōngsī) is one of the fixed telecommunications network service providers in Hong Kong that primarily serves Hong Kong Public Housing tenants. It is the wholly-owned subsidiary of City Telecom (H.K.) Limited and engages in the provision of broadband Internet access (1000 Mbit/s, 200 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s, 25 Mbit/s & 10 Mbit/s), telephony, IP-TV, mobile and corporate data services for residential and corporate market in Hong Kong. HKBN has attempted to compete with the larger and more successful fixed line and wireless telecommunications without avail. As with its parent company City Telecom, it is suffering an attrition of subscribers due to coverage and content. They lack content other than local media.

HKBN network infrastructure with Metro Ethernet IP technology, is now second generation and not state-of-the-art. However, HKBN has yet to invest in current technology. Metro Ethernet is a Cisco product and HKBN and its parent City Telecom are licensee and dependent upon Cisco for maintenance. Cisco Metro Ethernet provides the backbone connected by fibre optic, it offers flexibility in bandwidth provision ranges from 10 Mbit/s to 1000 Mbit/s. Apart from Internet access service, HKBN began providing telephony and IP-TV services in Hong Kong in 2002 and 2003, respectively. It also provides off-net voice-over-IP (VoIP) service under the brandname "2b" (2nd generation) Broadband Phone.

Services Provided

HKBN provides a variety of fixed telecommunications network services including :

• Broadband Internet access (Symmetric 25Mbps, 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps and 1Gbps,Fiber-to-the-Building and Fiber-to-the-Home connectivity)
• Telephony
• IPTV
• IDD0030
• Broadband Telephony
• Mobile and corporate data

Establishment of HKBN

Hong Kong Broadband Network was established in 1999. It is the wholly-owned subsidiary of City Telecom (H.K.) Limited ('CTI'), a telecommunications group established in 1992 by Ricky WONG Wai Kay (simplified Chinese: 王维基; traditional Chinese: 王維基; pinyin: wáng wéi jī), a manager known for his termination of a unit of HKBN on the eve of the Chinese New Year to avoid paying the customary year end bonus. Mr. Wong is also known for nepotistic hiring within the City Telecom and HKBN companies and is known to dispute regulatory compliance.

Development

• June 1998
  • Launching of CTInets Internet Access Services
• February 2000
  • Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited(HKBN) obtained Local Wireless FTNS license
• March 2000
  • Launch of broadband Internet access service
• April 2002
  • Launch of on-net telephony service
  • Upgraded to become a wireline-based FTNS license
• June 2002
  • Launch of IDD0030 service
  • Confirmed by Cisco Systems to have successfully built the world's largest Metro Ethernet IP network
• August 2003
  • Launch of IP-TV service
• July 2004
  • Launch of corporate data service
• August 2004
  • Launch of off-net VoIP service
• November 2004
  • Launch of bb100, Hong Kong's first 100 Mbit/s residential broadband service
• April 2005
  • Launch of bb1000 fibre-to-the-home 1 Gbit/s residential broadband service
• October 2005
  • Launch of 2b Broadband Phone service
• March 2006
  • Launch of bb25, 25 Mbit/s symmetric broadband service

Recent awards

• September 2005
  • Received Global Entrepolis@Singapore Award 2005, presented by the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Economic Board of Singapore
• October 2006
  • Being the first service provider in the world to achieve the Cisco Powered Network Metro Ethernet QoS Certified status
• January 2006
  • "Best Brand Award 2005 (Broadband Service)" from PC Weekly
• February 2006
  • Awarded by the Hong Kong Council of Social Services as the recipient for the "Caring Company" logo
• April 2006
  • Liu Xiang "Be Ahead of Yourself" bb1000 TV Commercial to be conferred as the winner of the "12th Annual Most Popular TV Commercial Awards"
• July 2006
  • Conferred "Call Centre of the Year" and "Customer Service Centre of the Year" at the Customer Relationship Excellence Awards 2005 by Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium
• October 2006
  • Liu Xiang "Be Ahead of Yourself" marketing campaign won the "Certificate of Excellence" of HKMA/TVB Awards for Marketing Excellence 2006
  • Awarded "Contact Centre of the Year {over 100 seats)" - Bronze at the Hong Kong Call Centre Association's 7th Annual Call Centre Awards 2006

Broadband Internet service

HKBN allots 10 Mbit/s, 25 Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 200 Mbit/s and 1000 Mbit/s of bi-directional transmission broadband Internet access services through a network made up of optical fibre and high grade Category 5 cables (CAT-5E). In June 2002, Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited built up the largest Metro Ethernet network in the world and confirmed by Cisco Systems. In October 2005, HKBN has become the first service provider in the world to achieve the Cisco Powered Network Metro Ethernet QoS Certified status. This IP network has already covered 65% of the market, that is, approximately 1.3 million families in Hong Kong in August 2006 and HKBN targets to expand its coverage to 1.8 million families.

HKBN also provides value-added services—for instance, newsgroups and personal webpage

Telephony service

HKBN provides local telephony service. Value-added services are also provided upon request (with additional charges).

• Caller ID Display
• Call waiting
• Call forward
• Voicemail
• Telephone and Fax Forward Service
• Conference Call
• Call Filtering
• Speed Dialling
• Block-the-blocker
• Reminder Function
• Do Not Disturb (DND)
• Total suspension ID display when dialing
• Remote call forward

Broadband telephone service

Broadband telephone service is provided through the broadband network with a broadband phone box, which supports Internet access and telephone service at the same time.

• 2nd Generation Broadband Phone: This is a software package provided by HKBN. User can use this software to call their friends and families overseas. They can also use this software while they are connecting to the Internet. Moreover, this software provides various functions listed below:
  • Video Call
  • Conference Call
  • Call Transfer
  • Caller ID display
  • Call Waiting
  • Call Filtering
  • Caller ID Display
  • Personalized Ring tone
  • Change Skin
  • Instant Message
  • Data Transfer
  • Phonebook
  • Call Logs
  • Voice Mail

The following table shows the differences in functions between the two telephone services:

Service Provided	Home Telephone	Broadband Phone
Video Call		P
Conference Call	P	P
Call Transfer	P	P
Caller ID display	P	P
Call Waiting	P	P
Call Filtering	P	P
Caller ID Display	P	P
Do Not Disturb(DND)	P	P
Personalized Ring tone		P
Change Skin		P
Instant Message		P
Data Transfer		P
Phonebook		P
Call Logs		P
Voice Mail	P	P
Telephone and Fax Redirect	P
Remote divert call	P

Digital TV (IP-TV) Service

By deploying Internet Protocol (IP) technology with Metro Ethernet network platform, HKBN launched Digital TV ('HKBN Digital TV') service in August 2003.

• Positioning: HKBN Digital TV aims at the Chinese language market. Additionally, it attempts to provide pay-TV service at a price lower than the other pay-TV service providers. Apart from carrying non-local channels, it also carries local and self-produced channels, such as 24-hour news channel. It also offers near VOD (Video-on-Demand) and other interactive channels such as real-time stock quote, SMS, email, online TV shopping, mobile ringtone and wall paper downloading, etc.
• Channels provided: Since the time it was established, the number of channels increased from 11 to over 70, which include:
  • Movie (8 channels)
  • News and Information (10 channels)
  • Children Education (3 channels)
  • Lifestyle/Leisure/Sports (2 channels)
  • Music and Culture (2 channels)
  • Lifestyle (7 channels)
  • Adult (5 channels)
  • Entertainment (14 channels)
  • Interactive channels (21 channels)
  • Hong Kong Broadband Network News 24/7 Channel: The HKBN News 24/7 channel is a self-produced channel by HKBN which distributes local and non-local news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • Current Affairs Channel: The Current Affairs Channel provides both community information and current affairs. Every Wednesday, it broadcasts regular meetings of the Legislative Council and television programs produced by the Radio Television of Hong Kong (RTHK).
  • Channel News Asia: This English news channel reports global news from an Asian viewpoint.
  • Hong Kong Sports Channel: The Hong Kong Sports Channel is a combination of local sports news and competitions, including Inter-University and Inter-School competitions.

IDD Service

HKBN provides IDD0030 international calling service to both land-line and mobile phones. Free minutes are available to the International Call Forwarding Service or IDD service. In addition, the charge is based on 1-minute increments. A complimentary Hong Kong ring tone is also available.

See also

• City Telecom (H.K.) Limited
• Pay television services (Hong Kong)
• Cable television
• Media in Hong Kong

External links

• CTI Group Homepage
• CTI International Telecommunications Services
• HKBN Fixed Telecommunications Services
• 2b 2nd Generation Broadband Phone Service