Access to the Internet

Hong Kong (Kennedy, 2001)

Compared to China, the licensing process adopted in HK is more straightforward. The Telecommunication (Amendment) Ordinance 2000 which was passed on June 15, 2000 and came into force on Apr 1, 2001 introduced a new class licensing system for certain non-essential, value-added services (including Internet services). The ISPs must obtain a public non-exclusive telecommunications service license (PNETS), which is renewable annually for a nominal fee. There is a mature Internet service industry with about 100 Internet service providers (ISPs) that have businesses to extend their reach and provide new and innovative Internet access services.

The HK government does not set much barrier on the access to the Internet, though the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association has a voluntary code of practice under which member ISPs agree not to host any illegal content or facilitate illegal activities and to cooperate with other ISPs, users and authorities if such activities take place.