Broadband News
News, views and analysis
World's best value broadband?
04 Nov 2009 | 14.02 Europe/London
This week, Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) slashed pricing on its 100Mbps broadband product to US$13/Month (HK$99/month). The new tariff, which is available to 1.62 million households within the footprint of the company's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, is for a 24-month contract.
"AWESOME SPEED FOR EVERYONE", the ISP shouted in the headline of its press release, with some justification, we think.
The cost per Mbps for this service works out at just US$0.06 (HK$0.50), the company claims. HKBN appears to have added both upstream and downstream bandwidth together to arrive at that figure, but nevertheless this is still one of the best value broadband deals in the world.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) collects data on broadband pricing , which show that last year, the "average" monthly price per Mbps was US$12. (Note that Hong Kong doesn't feature in the data because it's not one of the 30 member countries in the OECD).
Equating high-speed broadband with fast cars appears to be mandatory these days. In a statement, HKBN said:
But the metaphor has been driven harder than ever before with HKBN's advertising campaign, which we invite you to watch on YouTube.
That this development should take place in Hong Kong shouldn't be much of a surprise because fibre is the dominant broadband technology there. HKBN was one of the early adopters of fibre, initially running fibre to the basement of appartment blocks, which has helped the nation achieve third place in the global FTTH rankings.
HKBN says it is in the process of expanding its FTTH network to reach an additional 400,000 homes. The operator now favours true FTTH, installing optical fibre at least as far as the front door.
"AWESOME SPEED FOR EVERYONE", the ISP shouted in the headline of its press release, with some justification, we think.
The cost per Mbps for this service works out at just US$0.06 (HK$0.50), the company claims. HKBN appears to have added both upstream and downstream bandwidth together to arrive at that figure, but nevertheless this is still one of the best value broadband deals in the world.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) collects data on broadband pricing , which show that last year, the "average" monthly price per Mbps was US$12. (Note that Hong Kong doesn't feature in the data because it's not one of the 30 member countries in the OECD).
Equating high-speed broadband with fast cars appears to be mandatory these days. In a statement, HKBN said:
Some cars earn "supercar" status by their sheer performance but are priced beyond the mass. At HKBN, we have shattered this affordability barrier by delivering a "supercar" class symmetric 100Mbps broadband service at a mass market price.
But the metaphor has been driven harder than ever before with HKBN's advertising campaign, which we invite you to watch on YouTube.
That this development should take place in Hong Kong shouldn't be much of a surprise because fibre is the dominant broadband technology there. HKBN was one of the early adopters of fibre, initially running fibre to the basement of appartment blocks, which has helped the nation achieve third place in the global FTTH rankings.
HKBN says it is in the process of expanding its FTTH network to reach an additional 400,000 homes. The operator now favours true FTTH, installing optical fibre at least as far as the front door.