*****************************************************
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, at the 11th Asian Telecom and Information Exchange Forum today (December 6) (English Only) :
Chairman Chan, Director-General Wen, distinguished guests, colleagues from the ICT Industry, ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to officiate at the 11th Asian Telecom and Information Exchange Forum, the third time the forum has been held in Hong Kong. It was also here in 1998 and 2002.
Asia is undoubtedly the most exciting region in the world as far as ICT developments and applications are concerned. We have applied some of the most advanced communications technologies, achieved some of the world's highest broadband and mobile penetration rates, and have some of the world's largest emerging communications markets.
In Hong Kong, we recognise the importance of ICT, not just on its own, but also in supporting the many economic and social activities. The Government's aim, shared with our ICT industry and other segments of the community, is to maintain Hong Kong as a leading digital city. We are updating our Digital 21 Strategy for issue in 2007. This will be the Government's blueprint and action plan to realise our vision of advancing our achievements and seizing new opportunities to build on Hong Kong's position as a world digital city. We are pursuing a number of initiatives in this blueprint. For example:
* we will merge our broadcasting and telecommunications regulators to form a new unified regulator;
* following the current review, we will update our spectrum policy, which will provide clarity and predictability to the industry and enable the community to derive maximum benefits from the use of the designated spectrum;
* we will launch digital terrestrial TV services by the end of next year.
* we will roll out more e-government services and provide more integrated services through our one-stop portal.
This forum will provide you with a lot of opportunities to exchange views and experiences on the latest development in the ICT field. I wish the forum every success and participants many fruitful discussions.
Thank you.
Ends/Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:08
NNNN
