Our take...
The launch has various noteworthy aspects:

- Competition from Hong Kong Broadband Network, which claimed a world first in announcing 1000Mbit/s fibre broadband in November 2004, has put pressure on the incumbent to launch its own high speed end-to-end fibre services. 1000Mbit/s is over thirty times the highest connection speed advertised in the UK - 24Mbit/s from ADSL2+ provider Be Unlimited. PCCW's strategy of bundling multiple mobile and fixed broadband access types with IPTV susbcription is an attempt to reduce churn and increase ARPU from its subscriber base.

- Further factors behind providers investing in very high-speed fibre rollouts are increasing penetration of broadband and rising levels of traffic, caused in part by an explosion in usage of data-heavy online video sites (e.g. YouTube). Whilst levels of traffic have not yet reached the point where 100Mbit/s connection speed is a necessary requirement for operators, for consumers willing to pay the premium they provide unparalled speeds of delivery. Screen Digest calculates that to download a 2GB DVD quality movie would take under 30 seconds with PCCW's top tier package, and under 4 minutes for subscribers to the 100Mbit/s product.

- Examples of maximum speeds from fibre providers elsewhere in Asia are incumbents NTT in Japan and KT in South Korea with 100Mbit/s products. By comparison in Europe, French providers Iliad and France Telecom offer 100Mbit/s while Neuf Cegetel provides 50Mbit/s; B2Bredband in Sweden advertises 100Mbit/s; Dansk Bredband in Denmark markets a maximum of 25Mbit/s. Meanwhile in US, Verizon's top fibre speed is 30Mbit/s.

- Hong Kong, in line with other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, has a comparitively high penetration of fibre broadband. Screen Digest reseach indicates that at year-end 2006, over 30 per cent of online homes in Hong Kong were connected to broadband via fibre running directly into their home or via LAN, with fibre linked up to their apartment block.