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The Telecommunications Authority (TA) announced today (August 4) his decision to deregulate the free provision of White Pages by fixed operators. The TA has also decided to maintain the current requirement for fixed operators to provide telephonic directory enquiry (DQ) services to their subscribers.
"With the increasing popularity of Internet access and mobile phone services, the demand for directory services has undergone fundamental changes. As revealed from the findings of a public opinion survey as well as responses to a public consultation exercise conducted on the matter, few people now search telephone numbers via White Pages and even fewer regard it as an important service," a spokesman for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) said.
"The TA has decided to deregulate the White Pages in view of the diminishing public demand. Ceasing the printing of White Pages will also result in less paper consumption and is conducive to a better environment," the spokesman said.
"As to DQ service, since its demand remains substantial, both from the general public and visitors and tourists, there is a need to maintain the current regulatory regime in requiring fixed operators to provide telephonic DQ service to their subscribers. To address fixed operators' concern over a disproportionate use of the DQ service by a few subscribers, the TA will permit operators to levy charges on telephone subscribers who make more than 50 DQ calls in a month," the spokesman added.
With keen competition in the market, operators may decide, on the basis of their own commercial considerations, whether they will impose such charges on the heavy users, and if so, the levels. According to the statistics from fixed operators, less than 0.01% of telephone subscribers, or a few hundred in number, with a majority of them being business entities, may need to pay for the additional DQ calls beyond the monthly cap.
"As the cost of providing the DQ service to these heavy users already exceeds the telephone service tariff they pay, it is justified to levy a charge on them for making a disproportionately large number of DQ calls. Given the prevailing users' statistics however, a vast majority of the small and medium-sized enterprises will not be affected by the charging arrangement," the spokesman said.
Apart from the above, the TA will continue to maintain the status quo in not regulating the operations of Yellow Pages and Internet directories, which are offered out of the business considerations of the service providers. In addition, the TA will continue with the current practice of not including mobile numbers in the directory database as the volume of enquiries for such numbers is low and taking into account privacy considerations. Noting that mobile operators have, out of their own business decisions, established commercial arrangements with fixed operators or set up their own systems to provide DQ service to their customers, the TA will continue to defer to market forces and not exercise his power to direct mobile operators to provide DQ service.
The TA statement which sets out the details of the decision may be downloaded from OFTA's website at: www.ofta.gov.hk/en/tas/ftn/tas20100804.pdf .
Background:
A variety of directory services are currently available in the market. They include the White Pages, Yellow Pages, DQ service (by dialling 1081/1083) and Internet directory services. Fixed operators are mandated by the relevant licence conditions to provide White Pages and DQ service to their subscribers free of charge.
The TA notes that the demand for directory services has undergone fundamental changes over the years and has sought public views relating to the provision of directory services in the context of previous consultations on other telecommunications subjects. The most recent one was the consultation exercise on "Licensing Framework for Unified Carrier Licence". In a statement issued in May 2008, the TA announced that the provision of directory services was an important element of the telephone service and that he would conduct a more thorough review with a separate public consultation before any change to the existing regulatory regime is to be made.
Before launching the consultation, the OFTA commissioned an independent consultant to conduct a public survey in early 2009 to gauge the public demand for and perception towards directory services. The findings show that except for the DQ service, the public's demand for other services is generally low. Furthermore, over half of the respondents do not agree with the imposition of service charges on DQ calls and a majority of them do not find the need to include mobile phone numbers in directory services.
Taking into account the findings of the public survey, together with overseas experience and the data provided by fixed operators, the TA launched a public consultation exercise from November 6, 2009, to January 19, 2010, to seek the views of the industry and the public on whether, and if so how, the regulatory regime governing the provision of directory services should be updated. A total of 11 written submissions as well as several verbal responses via telephone were received from the industry and the public. The TA also consulted the Legislative Council Information Technology and Broadcasting Panel on February 8, 2010. Taking into account the views and comments of the respondents, the TA has come to decisions on the various regulatory issues outlined in the consultation document, and his decisions are promulgated in the TA statement issued today.
Ends/Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:55
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