****************************************
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) commissioned the Social Science Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a survey of residential broadband use in Hong Kong. The results of the survey published today (May 2) show that broadband service users are generally satisfied with the services they are using but the information provided by Internet service providers is still inadequate to enable consumers to make informed choices of broadband services.
The survey was conducted in the second half of 2006. It is the first of its kind commissioned by OFTA to study the level of consumer awareness of broadband Internet access services and to identify any deficit in the availability of information to consumers in making informed choices in the market. The key findings of the survey are at the Annex.
"In order that consumers are able to make informed choices of broadband services, adequate relevant information about the services should be made available to them in a meaningful manner," a spokesman for OFTA said.
The survey showed that some 87% of the respondents were satisfied with the broadband services they were using. Moreover, service reliability was the most significant factor that consumers would take into account while making their purchasing decisions. This factor was followed by download speed, quality of customer service, price and customer service hotline, in their descending order of importance.
"According to the survey results, while around 62% of the respondents consider that there is sufficient information available for the choice of broadband service providers, there are still 38% of the respondents who think that the information is inadequate. Consumers want unambiguous information about the price, transmission speed and quality of service of individual service providers."
"The survey results also indicated that many problems encountered by residential broadband users were not connected with the service quality delivered by Internet service providers. The enjoyment of consumers in broadband services could be enhanced by more education on the use of computers and internet at home," the spokesman said.
Based on the findings of the survey, OFTA will work with the industry and the Consumer Council on the initiatives to address the information need of consumers. OFTA has also initiated a dialogue with the Internet service providers on how they should make available the necessary information to consumers. OFTA is also developing a number of Best Practice Indicators concerning advertising and provision of pricing information to potential customers.
"The Best Practice Indicators, which will be established through consultation with the industry and the Consumer Council, aim to identify the potential problem areas where misleading or deceptive conduct may occur and to prevent consumers from being misled in choosing Internet service providers," the spokesman explained.
Furthermore, OFTA will seek co-operation from the industry, the Consumer Council and other relevant government agencies on the feasibility of launching an education programme for the wider Hong Kong community about being smart information technology users at home.
The Telecommunications Authority Statement and the detailed survey report can be downloaded from OFTA's web site at http://www.ofta.gov.hk/.
The survey of residential broadband use was conducted in accordance with the Telecommunications Authority Statement "Consumer Information in relation to Broadband Internet Access Services" published in May, 2006. The statement set out the conclusions made by the authority with regard to studies undertaken into certain technical aspects of the four major Internet service providers in 2005. In order to better understand the factors that consumers would take into account for their choice of broadband services, the authority decided to conduct the survey of residential broadband use of which results were announced today.
Ends/Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:55
NNNN
