Hong Kong hub for Europe's No 1 telecom provider

Europe's leading telecommunications provider, the Deutsche Telekom Group, has established its regional office for Greater China in Hong Kong. The move confirms Hong Kong's strategic importance for multinational telecommunications companies aiming to expand their services into the Mainland.

The group today (November 28) officially launched its subsidiary, T-Systems China Ltd, which offers convergent solutions merging IT and telecommunications technologies to corporate customers in Greater China.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Henry Tang, said Hong Kong with its excellent geographical location and telecommunications infrastructure was a global communications hub with a superb international network.

He said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had recently ranked Hong Kong at the top of their Mobile/Internet Index. This indicated that Hong Kong had the most fertile ground for developing businesses of this kind.

T-Systems, he said, could take full advantage of Hong Kong's wide pool of telecommunications specialists and seasoned operators in China business, simple taxation, stable monetary and transparent legal systems.

A member of the company's Managing Board responsible for the International Business Division, Mr Michael Hofmann, said that strengthening its presence in Hong Kong would enable T-Systems to better serve the needs of its multinational customers in the region.

Invest Hong Kong's Associate Director-General, Mr John Rutherford, who also attended today's ceremony, said Deutsche Telekom's investment was one of the latest in a series of world-class overseas companies establishing a strong foothold in Hong Kong to expand their Asian market share, especially into China.

End/Thursday, November 28, 2002