Press Release
OFTA Seeks Views on Initiatives to Enhance Protection of Consumer Interest

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) today (23 July 2004) launched a public and industry consultation exercise to invite views on a series of initiatives for enhancing the protection of the interest of telecommunications service users and promoting good trade practices among public telecommunications service providers.

The series of initiatives proposed include: 1) a framework for providing quality of service (QoS) information to users of public telecommunications services, 2) a voluntary Code of Practice for the Service Contracts for the Provision of Public Telecommunications Services and 3) a voluntary Code of Practice on Unsolicited Doorstep Sales and Marketing of Telecommunications Services at Residential Premises.

"All sectors of the telecommunications industry in Hong Kong have been liberalised and open to competition. Consumers can now enjoy a wide range of innovative services at competitive prices. In order to ensure consumers to gain full benefits of the competition, we need to keep them adequately informed about the QoS of different service providers in the market so that they can make an informed choice," a spokesperson from OFTA said.

"In view of the fact that a significant proportion of consumer complaints received by OFTA about broadband Internet services arose from the lack of information about quality of service, the QoS framework will first focus on residential broadband Internet services", the spokesperson said.

OFTA proposes to include a total of ten service and technical performance indicators in the QoS framework. The indicators would be measured, reported and published based on definitions and measurement methodology uniformly applied across the industry. With the availability of comparable QoS information, consumers can make informed choice about Internet services.

It is expected that the performance statistics of residential broadband service providers would be made available to consumers in mid-2005 and to be updated quarterly.

"The performance indicators should be set by the service providers themselves. They are not minimum standards set by the regulator. We believe that service providers will continue to compete on price as well as on non-price aspects of their offers. Transparency will make it easier for residential customers to choose between the different offers as they understand more about what to expect in terms of service quality," the spokesperson explained.

On fixed-line telephone services and Internet services, OFTA consults on two codes of practice and invites operators to join on a voluntary basis.

With the duration of fixed-term telecommunications service contracts increasing to as long as 36 months, OFTA believes that it becomes all the more important for such contracts to be prepared and presented in a fair and transparent manner.

"A 'Code of Practice for the Service Contracts for the Provision of Public Telecommunications Services' is proposed in this consultation. Under this proposed code, the provisions in telecommunications service contracts should be balanced, fair, and reasonable. Salient points of a contract should be presented in a prominent place or highlighted in the contract. It is also advisable that consumers ask for a copy of the contract entered into," the spokesperson said.

The proposed code is modelled on a voluntary Code of Practice for the Service Contracts for the Provision of Public Mobile Radiotelephone Services issued in 2001. OFTA now invites views on having a similar code covering other public telecommunications services, especially the fixed-line telephone services and Internet services. External telecommunications service providers and mobile virtual network operators are also encouraged to comply with the proposed code.

The second voluntary code of practice that OFTA would like to issue after consultation is about unsolicited doorstep sales visits to residential premises.

"In view of the complaints about the nuisances caused by doorstep sales of fixed-line telephone services or Internet services, OFTA hopes that operators would adopt good trade practices with self-discipline," said the spokesperson.

OFTA invites telecommunications operators to indicate their willingness to comply with the two codes of practice as volunteers. Those who pledge compliance with the codes will have their names published at OFTA's web site for public information and monitoring.

"We have already discussed the three initiatives proposed with the telecommunications industry widely, with the support of the Consumer Council, the Hong Kong Telecom Users Group and prominent industry associations in different fora. We have accommodated many views of the industry to ensure that the approach to be adopted will be conducive to healthy developments of the telecommunications industry, recognising the business needs of operators in a competitive environment as well as enhancing consumer interests in a proactive manner."

The current consultation allows OFTA to gather more views from the public and the industry before implementing them.

The consultation papers on all of the three proposed initiatives can be downloaded from OFTA's web site: www.ofta.gov.hk. The consultations on the two codes of practice will last for four weeks until 20 August, while the consultation period for the framework for providing QoS information will last for two months until 23 September.

Office of the Telecommunications Authority
23 July 2004