Netvigator is a residential

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, operated as a brand of

Hong Kong Telecom HKT Limited (), also known as Hong Kong Telecom (), is one of the largest telecommunications companies of Hong Kong. It has a dominant position in fixed-line, mobile, IDD and broadband services in Hong Kong. HKT Group is a subsidiary of PCCW ...

, a subsidiary of

PCCW PCCW Limited (formerly known as Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited) is a Hong Kong-based information and communications technology (ICT) company. The company is the majority owner of telecommunications company HKT Limited, and also holds a m ...

. The company did offer iTV, an interactive movie television network that allowed users to watch movies on their TV screen by demand. The service ended in 2002 (PCCW later re-entered multichannel television market with

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...

service

Now TV Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * No ...

in 2003).

History

Netvigator dial-up Internet Access Service was first launched under Hong Kong Telecom IMS Limited under the directorship of Dr. William Lo on 18 April 1996. It acquired another ISP, hkstar, with all the infrastructure and clients. Their

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

service, under the brand name "Super Netvigator" was launched as a value-added service of the InteractiveTV (iTV) in May 1998. Subsequently, it launched their standalone broadband service (directly connected to PC without iTV), under the service name "Netvigator 1.5M Ultraline", in July 1999.

United Kingdom operation

Trading initially under the Netvigator brand, with the company name ''UK Broadband'', PCCW entered the UK broadband market with wireless broadband in mid-2004, starting with the

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...

. The brand migrated to Now Broadband during 2005, and the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

market was opened for business. At the same time the support call centre for the UK was moved from Hong Kong to an outsourcer in the north of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In September 2007, Now Broadband sent out letters to selected areas in the UK cancelling the service, citing "limitations not apparent when we launched the service in your area" as the reason for closing certain radio sites.

References

External links

*
UK Broadband (ex-Netvigator) corporate details
{{PCCW, state=expanded Internet service providers of Hong Kong Former internet service providers of the United Kingdom Companies established in 1996 Pacific Century Group