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Consumers will be able to make better-informed purchasing choices of broadband internet service providers (ISPs) following the publication of performance pledges by five ISPs later this month. This is a joint initiative of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and the industry aiming at increasing the transparency of the service performance of and level of customer satisfaction with the broadband internet service market.
The performance pledges will cover areas such as network reliability, service restoration time, technical performance, customer hotline performance and customer complaint handling. These are areas identified by a survey commissioned by OFTA in 2007 as either very important or important to consumers when choosing an ISP. The pledges are the service standards which the concerned ISPs will use their best endeavours to meet.
The five ISPs who have taken part in the initiative are the Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited, Hutchison Global Communications Limited, New World Telecommunications Limited, PCCW IMS Limited and Hong Kong Cable Television Limited.
A spokesman for OFTA said today (January 20), "We are pleased that these five ISPs have decided to take part in this meaningful initiative. They will publish reports of their actual performance levels against the published pledges on a quarterly basis and it is expected that the first reports will be available in April. The published information should help consumers make better-informed choices when they decide to subscribe to the service of a particular ISP."
"By examining the pledges and the actual performance figures, consumers will have a fair picture of the normal service level which they can reasonably expect if they choose a particular ISP," the spokesman said.
"The initiative should be beneficial to both the industry and consumers. On the one hand, with enhanced information available to consumers, the market may achieve higher levels of efficiency. On the other hand, increased transparency will enable the consumers to better understand the service performance of their service providers, thereby increasing the level of customer satisfaction."
The performance pledges will be published on the respective websites of the five service providers from January 25. The quarterly reports of their actual performance against the pledges will be published within one month after each quarter ending in March, June, September and December.
"We encourage other ISPs to follow suit. If any service providers need advice from OFTA in this respect, they are welcome to contact us for assistance," the spokesman said.
More about this initiative of OFTA can be found in the Telecommunications Authority's Statement on Publication of Performance Pledges by Broadband Internet Service Providers posted on OFTA's website (www.ofta.gov.hk) today.
Background:
In the Telecommunications Authority Statement "Survey on residential broadband internet access services" published on May 2, 2007, the authority reported the survey findings that the vast majority of residential users of broadband services were satisfied with the broadband services on offer. However, there were gaps in the public's understanding of the services available in the market and in the information available for comparing the services. Commissioned by OFTA, the survey was completed by the University of Hong Kong in 2007. Based on the findings of the survey, OFTA initiated discussions with the industry on ways and means to improve the availability of meaningful information about the main service parameters of broadband services so that consumers could make informed choices.
Ends/Sunday, January 20, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:00
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