Hong Kong Broadband Network: “For us, speed is always the first priority”

Henry Yeung Is Head Of Network Development At Hong Kong Broadband Network

Henry Yeung is head of network development at Hong Kong Broadband Network. He is speaking on the subject of Cloud TV on Day One of the Broadband ip&TV Asia 2012 conference, taking place on the 15th-16th May 2012, KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this interview he explains why network speed is at the core of what the operator does but that coverage remains a challenge.

What is the core technology your network is currently based on and what are the development plans for the future?

The Hong Kong Broadband Network is one of the FTTH leaders in Hong Kong and our core technologies are Metro Ethernet and GPON. The HKBN launched a 100Mb service to the general public as far back as 2005 and a 1GB service in 2008.  In future, we’ll mainly engage in GPON network for our FTTH service. I think FTTH is the future.

Speed is often touted as a priority, but some view the major challenge to be coverage and network capacity. What is your view?

Speed and capacity are always co-related. Of course coverage is also important too. If we offer fast speed broadband services, we need to have enough backhaul in the network capacity. But for us, speed is always the first priority and we even offer speed guarantees to our customers.

To what extent can fixed wireless connections help in the roll-out of broadband connectivity?

To a certain extent, wireless broadband connections merely serve as a convenience method of internet access for handhelds, and the speed will not be heavily loaded. For heavy loaded usage however, fixed broadband is still a must.

What are the biggest challenges you expect to be facing over the next 12 months?

For HKBN, coverage is still a challenge. As Hong Kong is a high density area, we face a lot of problems in expanding our coverage with its space limitations. At this moment, we have covered over 84 per cent of Hong Kong households.

Why is your attendance at this event so important for you and your company and what aspect are you looking forward to most?

We look forward to share our successful story to the global industry and also to learn from the other industries experts.

The Broadband Asia 2012 conference is taking place on the 15th-16th May 2012, KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Go to the website now to register your interest.