Towngas Telecommunications Fixed Network (Towngas Telecom), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), was officially launched today with a business model that is unique in Hong Kong's diverse telecommunications services market.

The new company is leveraging the extensive gas mains pipeline network operated by Towngas and harnessing the revolutionary "glass-in-gas" (GIG) technology of deploying fibre-optic cabling in existing gas pipes to position itself as a wholesale provider of network infrastructure and bandwidth.

"The GIG technology allows us to deploy new cables in less than half the time it takes to dig up the road, build ducting and run new cables - and that's after the lengthy process of obtaining a road works permit," said Sunny Lee, Towngas Telecom Chief Executive Officer. "GlG has low environmental impact and is much less disruptive to the public. What's more, new fibre-optic cables can be deployed at a fraction of the cost of conventional cable laying operations - savings that we can share with our
customers."

"We are therefore well positioned be the carrier of carriers, providing high-capacity cable infrastructure and bandwidth, primarily to other telecommunication service providers and selectively to large, multi-site organisations operating in Hong Kong. We aim at being the partner of all telecom players, offering them solutions for infrastructure expansion. I believe that our market entry will be significant stimulus to new telecommunications service development in Hong Kong."

The Towngas supply network extends more than 3,000 kilometres throughout Hong Kong, representing an economic reach of around 85 per cent, covering major business and residential districts in the SAR. The big time-advantage of the GIG means Towngas Telecom can deploy cabling to new locations for customers in a build-to-order, just-in-time manner.

CI NEWS BUREAU

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