For Joel Ma of M3Com, Hong Kong has the crucial factors necessary for setting up a hub in the region

China's WTO entry has also presented enormous opportunities to international companies who see Hong Kong as a platform to the mainland market.

Among those companies leveraging Hong Kong's advantages is Bermuda-based Millennium 3 Communications (M3Com). With telecom traffic in Asia representing about 25 per cent of the world's total - and still rising - M3Com was looking for a hub capable of connecting countries though Asia-Pacific to the US and the rest of the world.

"The geographic location of Hong Kong makes it a perfect place to locate an Asian headquarters," said Joel Ma, managing director Asia-Pacific for M3Com (Hong Kong) Limited. "Hong Kong attracts most of the leading telecom carriers and service operators setting up their offices here, forming one of the must successful and dynamic telecom marketplaces in the world."

With Hong Kong being so central in Asia, transportation to neighbouring countries is convenient and effective, Mr Ma added. The world-class telecom infrastructure is also of great benefit to M3Com, enabling the company to build its networking platform with good choice of cable and carrier diversity.

Spanning global markets in a single hop

"The footprint of satellite going through Hong Kong can cover most parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the west coast of the US with one single hop of transmission. Hong Kong doesn't belong to the earthquake zone in Asia. These are crucial factors as our company establishes its Network Operation Centre in Hong Kong to provide 24x7 hours of global support for our customers."

Hong Kong people are also quick learners and capable of mastering new technology, Mr Ma said. "The industry has trained up hundreds of expert staff with a wealth of telecom knowledge and relevant management skills. What's more, Hong Kong's workforce is famous for being hardworking and flexible in dealing with the 'impossible mission'."

Hong Kong will be the company's springboard to the Chinese mainland, where M3Com sees huge growth potential for telecommunications business. With Hong Kong people's profound experience in dealing with the mainland, they can help overseas companies like M3Com enter this vast market.

BT Ignite of the UK set up in Hong Kong in 1983, supplying communications systems to financial services companies in conjunction with local partner Hong Kong Telecom. Since then, it has successfully captured a 50 per cent share of the local dealing room market supporting communications needs for international trading.

"We see Hong Kong as a very important centre for finance, and that is one of our direct target markets," president if BT Ignite in Asia-Pacific Graham Moore said.

Where multinationals converge

	Graham Moore of BT Ignite explains how Hong Kong is pivotal to the carrier's four key markets

"We chose Hong Kong because it is one of the major commercial centres in the Asia-Pacific, with solid IT, logistics and transportation infrastructure. This is also where many of our multinational customers are located.

"In addition, Hong Kong has a high calibre, multilingual workforce experienced in the telecommunications industry. The rapid expansion of the global telecommunications industry in the 1990s really confirmed that this was the right choice for BT."

Hong Kong's strength lies in its position as a centre of business in Asia, and a gateway to the Chinese mainland, Mr Moore added. "BT has four key markets - Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore - and Hong Kong is located at the centre of these geographies. As BT continues to develop its markets, Hong Kong will play a critical role as a major centre of our operations in the region."

As a growing number of its customers view China's WTO entry as an opportunity, BT Ignite will be there for them. "Our aim is to be where our customers are, therefore we view China as extremely important to our future growth plan," Mr Moore said. "With its close proximity, Hong Kong is an ideal centre and location for our China market strategy."

Mainland firms reap benefits

Chinese mainland-based international network solution provider ZTE says Hong Kong is a showcase for its products and a springboard to global markets.

"Hong Kong has the best infrastructure in the world," said business development director Liu Jianping. "Logistically, it's very easy to travel to other places from Hong Kong. And as many multinational companies have offices in Hong Kong, there is an established international business community here. The clean and efficient government provides a fair and transparent ground for business activities."

As an international city, Hong Kong has world-class human capital presenting a valuable resource for mainland companies, Mr Liu added. As a financial centre, it provides unique financial services to meet the demands of a large number of overseas projects.

Related links:
M3com www.m3com.com
ZTE www.zte.com.cn/english/