Hutchison Global Communications Ltd, City Telecom (HK) Ltd and other phone companies said call traffic and Internet use surged as more people stayed at home to avoid a deadly virus spreading worldwide.
Businessmen prevented from traveling and house-bound children playing online games contributed to a 30 percent rise in residential broadband Internet traffic at Hutchison Global, billionaire Li Ka-shing's fixed-line phone company, in the past two weeks. City Telecom, Hong Kong's No. 2 long-distance carrier, said calls have risen by a fifth.
Phone companies and providers of virtual services such as online games and video-conferencing are benefiting as the city's 7 million population shies away from face-to-face contact for fear of catching an illness that's killed at least 90 people worldwide.
Hong Kong is the second-worst affected area after mainland China.
"We believe people are staying home to avoid the virus," said Hutchison Global spokeswoman Agnes Chan. "School kids are killing time online at home."
People have more time on their hands after the government shut schools and quarantined residents exposed to the virus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. A million children will spend two more weeks at home after a citywide school closure was extended.
Yahoo! Inc.'s games Web site in Hong Kong, which features pool, chess and other interactive games, recorded a 74 percent surge in viewership on April 3 compared with a month earlier, said Arthur Chow, a Yahoo business manager in Hong Kong.
Besides ditching movie theaters for online entertainment, people are also using the Internet to keep abreast of developments on the disease. I-Cable Communications Ltd, which connects customers to its local-language news Web portal, said peak-hour usage tripled to 12 hours a day. ``People crave news because they care about the disease,'' spokeswoman Chan So Kuen said.
The city is home to 2.4 million Internet accounts and 6.3 million cellphone users, compared with about 600,000 subscribers to cable TV. Cellphone penetration is the highest in Asia after Taiwan. Individuals and authorities have turned to phone lines as a quick and sure way of sending messages across town at a time when many people are shying away from personal contact.
When a teenager used a look-alike Web site from a popular Chinese-language portal to spread false news of a citywide quarantine on April 1, the government asked Hong Kong CSL Ltd. and five other cell-phone operators to send six million text messages to users to deny the rumor. The hoax prompted residents to jam supermarkets to stockpile food and other supplies.
Hong Kong's health authorities reported 842 cases of the disease and 22 deaths as of yesterday. Some 2,416 people in more than a dozen countries have been infected, according to the World Heath Organization.
Intel Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co are among companies that have advised employees in Hong Kong to work from home. PCCW Ltd, the city's biggest phone company, has recorded a more than 20 percent jump in broadband Internet use since the outbreak, thanks partly to people holding video conferences from home, said Dominic Leung, PCCW's executive vice president for consumer services.
International Data Corp, which researches markets for computer-related products, decided to move an April 15 conference online, said Kitty Fok, an IDC analyst.
RSS