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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) has today (November 6) issued a consultation paper to seek public views on the future arrangements for directory services.
"The existing regulatory regime for directory services has been in place since the local fixed telephone services were liberalised in June 1995. Since then, with the rapid development of the telecommunications industry and the advent of new technologies, the public's practice of using directory services has undergone substantial changes. In order that the regulatory regime may stay up-to-date and the services that the telecommunications sector provides may meet the demands of the general public, we have initiated a review of the directory services," a spokesperson of OFTA said.
"To gauge the user requirements of the directory services, OFTA commissioned a public survey in early 2009. The result of the survey indicated that the demand for the printed directory (commonly known as White Pages) is low. The majority of the respondents indicated that they had never used, or had not used such a service in the past year. OFTA therefore proposes to remove the mandatory requirement for fixed network operators to provide the White Pages to customers. Such a proposal should reduce the unnecessary consumption of paper," the spokesperson said.
The survey and information provided by a major fixed network operator indicate that the telephone directory enquiry (commonly known as 1081/1083 service, or DQ service in short) service is commonly used by telephone subscribers and most of them (more than 99% of the total) make 10 or less DQ calls in a month. This suggests that there is a continued need for free DQ service. However, the information provided by the major fixed network operator also indicated that a small number of subscribers generated a disproportionately large number of DQ calls.
"The imbalanced use of the DQ service may create an unfair situation whereby the majority of the subscribers, who are relatively light user of the service, are subsidising a small number of heavy users. The Telecommunications Authority would like to seek the views of the public on whether some form of arrangements should be made to address such a concern. Both the proposal to remove the mandatory requirement on the White Pages, and to consider arrangements to address the imbalanced use of DQ service, would allow operators to re-allocate resources for the provision of other services in greater demand in this highly competitive market for the benefit of the general public," the spokesperson said.
"The consultation will also seek views on a number of other issues, including whether or not there is a need to extend the directory services to cover mobile numbers. Mobile numbers are currently not covered by the directory services and the survey indicates that the public demand for such a service is insignificant. Moreover, the survey reveals that the respondents are generally unwilling to make available their own mobile numbers for the directory services," the spokesperson said.
Interested parties are invited to submit their views to OFTA on or before January 5, 2010. The consultation paper and the survey report can be downloaded from the following hyperlinks at OFTA's website:
Consultation Paper: http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/report-paper-guide/paper/consultation/cp20091106.pdf
Survey Report: http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/report-paper-guide/report/rp20091106.pdf
Background
A variety of directory services are currently available in the market. They include the regulated printed directory (in the form of White Pages), telephone directory service (known as 1081/1083 service, or DQ service in short) and other non-regulated directory services. Relevant licence conditions mandate fixed network operators to provide White Pages and DQ service to their subscribers free of charge.
Telecommunications Authority notices that the public's practice of using directory services has undergone fundamental changes over the years and he has sought public views relating to directory services in the previous consultations on other subjects. The latest one was in the consultation exercise on "Licensing Framework for Unified Carrier Licence". In his statement issued in May 2008, Telecommunications Authority announced that the provision of directory services was an important element of the public telephone service and that he would conduct a more thorough review with a separate consultation to gather the views of the industry, the business community and consumers before any fundamental change to the existing regime is to be made.
In order to gauge the public's demand for and perception towards directory services, OFTA commissioned an independent consultant to conduct a public survey in early 2009. The result shows that except for the DQ service, the public's demand for other services is low. Furthermore, over half of the respondents do not agree with imposition of charge on DQ service and they have no interest in including mobile numbers in directory services.
Taking into account the findings of the public survey, together with the overseas experience and data provided by fixed network operators, Telecommunications Authority has set out his preliminary views for discussion in the consultation paper. Telecommunications Authority will take into account the views and comments received before making a final decision on the matter.
Ends/Friday, November 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:34
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