| For information | 23 January 1997 |
- Table of Index
- Information Infrastructure
Physical Infrastructure- Current Position
- Co-ordination of development of the information infrastructure
The Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee
Information Infrastructure
The term information infrastructure is broadly accepted to cover -
- the physical infrastructure - the telecommunication network usually consisting of optical fibre cables and associated hardware and software to convey broadband signals;
- applications using the physical infrastructure - this includes all possible users of a high-speed, high-capacity network by all sectors in the community : government, private sector, academics and individuals.
- facilitating and supporting functions - this includes education, the development of computer literacy, manpower planning, training and retraining.
2. This paper focusses on the development of the physical infrastructure and touches on the promotion of the effective use of that infrastructure for possible applications.
3. Hong Kong is already in the forefront of the world in the development of the physical infrastructure to meet the demands of the Information Age. This development is being undertaken by our private sector telecommunication services operators under favourable market conditions. This is very much the Hong Kong way of doing things.
4. It is worth taking stock of our current position. Hong Kong was one of the first major cities to have a fully digitalised fixed telecommunications network, a vital precursor for the information superhighway. Almost all our mobile telecommunications are digitalised thus allowing for remote Internet downloading and uplifting.
5. The dominant operator, the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited, has also invested significantly in the past few years to upgrade its narrow band telephone network, and will continue to expand its broadband capacity in the next decade. To date, 200,000 km of optical fibres have been laid connecting all telephone exchanges and reaching out to 1,500 buildings. Hong Kong Telecom IMS has also in 1995 tested the Video-On-Demand (VOD) technology successfully and is planning to introduce broadband multi-media services in 1998. It is expected that we would have optical cables reaching most homes by the turn of the century. In this we are at the leading edge of information infrastructure development in the world.
6. Our three new fixed telecommunications network service operators licensed in 1995 have all committed to constructing advanced optical fibre networks with state-of-the-art intelligent network technologies. In the next few years these operators will complete the installation of optical backbone networks along the Mass Transit Railway, providing coverage to the districts along this route which represent the major part of all urban and commercial areas. In addition to the provision of existing forms of telecommunication services, these networks are capable of providing future broadband multi-media services when the demand arises.
7. On the international front, HKTI is investing in submarine optical fibre cables. Only last week it announced its participation in another high capacity fibre optic cable linking Hong Kong up to Japan and Korea, down to Singapore and across to Europe and the Pacific.
Co-ordination of development of the information infrastructure
8. There is already some co-ordination in the telecommunications industry on issues such as technical standards and co-operate with other countries on joint pilot test projects. Hong Kong participates in the test bed and other work relating to the Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII). This, however, needs to be stepped up to ensure full connectivity here, regionally and globally.
9. OFTA is the regulatory authority for the development of telecommunication networks, including the broadband telecommunications networks and the physical infrastructure for the information superhighway. In discharging this role OFTA has established a number of advisory committees to advise the Telecommunications Authority (TA) on issues such as technical standards, telecommunications numbering and consumer affairs. These committees are functioning well with respect to the current narrow band network and services. But it is considered that the nature of the new broadband platform for the future multi-media and information services is sufficiently distinct from that of the current narrow band network to merit the setting up of a new advisory committee to consider the issues involved. Furthermore, as we are in the early stages of construction of the physical infrastructure, we should also bring in potential users of the infrastructure to facilitate a better design of the network.
The Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee
10. OFTA is establishing an Advisory Committee on the coordination of the development of the Hong Kong Information Infrastructure (HKII). This Committee, to be known as the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IIAC), will focus mainly on the development of the broadband physical infrastructure while accepting ideas and inputs on potential applications. From the outset, it would
- take stock of the existing network developments in Hong Kong which can form the basis of the future HKII;
- study developments overseas on the introduction of the information infrastructure;
- identify development potentials on the physical infrastructure and applications;
- co-ordinate the orderly development of the physical infrastructure including the adoption of technical standards for network interconnection and user interfaces;
- advise on the optimal regulatory environment to be adopted by Government;
- promote the use of the MCI to potential users.
11. The IIAC would consist of representatives from the telecommunications network operators, experts in the academic sector, members of the information technology industry and relevant Government departments.