Competition and increasing availability of bandwidth are putting downward pressure on prices. Service providers need to develop alternative revenue sources and many are compelled to bundle more services to achieve cost efficiencies and justify the price charged. The fast changing business environment in Hong Kong always throw open opportunities for new players to provide new and innovative services. Moreover, with advances in technology, end users will be better equipped with faster and more reliable transmission rates, and services that are available anytime, anywhere with the advent of 3G and mobile commerce. While this increases bandwidth capacity eventually, demand and supply factors will see a downward pressure on bandwidth prices in the medium to long term.
Many operators are prepared or are preparing to enter into the mainland to provide services.
However, even with WTO, they do not expect the market to liberalize at the rate that Singapore or Hong Kong opened their telecommunications markets. Instead they expect a phased approach towards liberalization. The trend towards outsourcing of applications, data management and equipment is one of the fastest growing businesses in the medium term. Partners with respective strengths in services, content and network provision will come together and compete against other partnerships. By coming together, such partners can leverage on the synergies and broad product offerings to differentiate themselves from their competition.