This creates tremendous business opportunity for the wider economy, paving way for the mobile Internet and M-commerce in the 2.5G world, as well as the 3G world. Amidst all this excitement, I would like to congratulate the United Nations and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government for their foresight and efforts in organizing this forum. I hope to contribute to the discussions by sharing with you my thinking on the opportunities arising from wireless technology, and how Hong Kong can contribute to the development now and in the 3G world. The potential of wireless technologies is undisputed. A small community like Hong Kong, which has made a head start in liberalization, has more mobile phone users, at 5.5 million, than the number fixed lines, business and residential combined, at 3.9 million lines.
Mobile penetration continues to grow at a rate higher than fixed lines.
In the year of 2000 alone, the mobile penetration rate grew from 59 per cent to 76 per cent at end 2000. We represent a fairly typical example of a city with an advance and competitive telecommunications industry. The figures for China, which is expected to become the world's largest mobile telecommunications market, are even more staggering. It is now a matter of making sure that high value added mobile services and new applications reach these customers. So we see, whether on a city, country or regional basis, the unparalleled expansion of wireless communications serving the average citizen and creating exciting business opportunities.