Wednesday 8 February 2012

Contents of module

Determination of Interconnection Charges for Type I and Type II

Following the failure of commercial negotiations, Type II interconnection charges were made under a Determination of the TA, on 21 August 1998 between the Hong Kong Telephone Company and New T&T.

The Annex and the Appendix to the Determination contain detailed current and historical cost comparisons and a detailed methodology of the cost model of LRAIC. The TA added in a Statement that the cost-based charges for New T&T traffic were sufficiently close to those incurred by all carrier traffic as to be a benchmark for future determinations if the need arises.

Date of application Origination/Termination
Charge per minute		 Transit charge per minute
PSTN    
1.7.95 – 30.6.96 HK 4.9¢ HK 2.1¢
1.7.96 – 30.6.97 HK 4.1¢ HK 2.8¢
1.7.97 – 30.6.98 HK 3.4¢ HK 2.7¢
1.7.98 – 30.6.99 HK 2.2¢ occupancy minute HK 1.9¢ occupancy minute
  HK 3.3¢ per call attempt HK 0.8¢ per call attempt
ISDN    
1.7.98 – 30.6.99 HK 2.2¢ occupancy minute HK 1.5¢ occupancy minute
  HK 6.5¢ per call attempt HK 0.7¢ per call attempt

On 19 April 1999 the TA made a Statement on Type II Interconnection Between New World Telephone and Hong Kong Telephone, a commercial agreement which followed a request by NWT for the TA to intervene. The local line usage charge was lowered from HK$56 per month to HK$42 per month. The Statement was intended to signal the type of agreement the TA favoured.

The TA clarifies that local access loop interconnection does not imply a transfer of ownership of facilities, but it does of customer. Further, Type II interconnection is confined to the PSTN and data rates up to ISDN 144 Kbps, implying local access loop bandwidth up to 50kHz. The TA also announced an industry code of practice (Annex 1 to the Statement) to gain industry consensus on interconnection procedures which “had not always been carried out in the most efficient manner”. The following table summarizes the main points of the agreement, which became the basis of agreements between the other carriers in Hong Kong.

  Basic Grade
Local Access Loop		 Premium Grade
Local Access Loop
Usage
charge		 HK$42 per line per month in urban areas HK$42 per line per month in urban areas
Installation
charge		 HK$475 in urban areas HK$875 in urban areas
Capability
  • Minimum transmission bandwidth will be 300 – 3,400Hz minimum
  • Transmission bandwidth may, but is not guaranteed to, reach up to 50kHz
  • The network owner may not install any conditioning equipment which will limit bandwidth to less than 50kHz
  • The interconnecting carrier may provide services between 300Hz – 50kHz
  • Transmission bandwidth will meet, but not exceed, 300Hz – 50kHz
Occupancy charge
HK$250 per sq. metre per month in commercial district exchanges
HK$130 per sq. metre per month in other exchange districts

Supporting facilities – as per the Industry Code of Practice for the Interconnection of the Local Access Link.

Note: the bandwidth 300Hz – 50kHz allows data rates of up to 144kbps.