HKT to transform telecom services into more consumer- friendly ‘cloud’ business

Operator’s Project Earth, backed by technology supplier Huawei, will help accelerate preparations for future 5G mobile network operations

Reading Time:2 minutes

HKT group managing director Alex Arena says he’s aware of the need to ‘disrupt ourselves’ or face the risk or technological obsolescence. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 7:03am, 19 Sep 2017Updated: 7:02am, 19 Sep 2017

HKT, the largest telecommunications services provider in Hong Kong, unveiled on Monday its ambitious “Project Earth”, a digital transformation initiative that steps up the company’s preparations for future businesses based on fields like 5G, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

“This transformation journey touches all parts of the business,” said Alex Arena, the group managing director at HKT, in his keynote address at Huawei Technologies’ Operations Transformation Forum in Hong Kong.

Project Earth, which HKT started to plan and design last year, is geared towards streamlining its operations, “changing from a network-centric to a more customer-centric” service provider, Arena said.

Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world’s biggest telecommunications network equipment supplier by revenue, is HKT’s main technology partner for its digital business transformation.

The initiative will have its pilot launch this fourth quarter focused on the corporate market as more work is expected to follow in the next two years, which would help accelerate the operator’s preparations for 5G mobile development at the end of this decade.

It also marks a major effort for HKT, the telecommunications arm of tycoon Richard Li Tzar-kai’s PCCW group, to further enhance its capabilities in Hong Kong, where it is now the sole integrated fixed-line and mobile network services provider.