PCCW Limited (formerly known as Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited) is a
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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
-based
information and communications technology
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...
(ICT) company.
The company is the majority owner of telecommunications company
HKT Limited, and also holds a
majority interest
A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the majo ...
in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited. PCCW is headquartered in Hong Kong and operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, mainland China, and other parts of Asia.
Main business and subsidiaries
HKT Limited
Subsidiaries and services
*
Netvigator
Netvigator is a residential Internet service provider in Hong Kong, operated as a brand of Hong Kong Telecom, a subsidiary of PCCW. The company did offer iTV, an interactive movie television network that allowed users to watch movies on their T ...
*
CSL Mobile ("csl", "1O1O" and "Club SIM")
*
Sun Mobile
Sun Mobile Limited (branded as SUN Mobile), formerly known as New World Mobility Limited, is a mobile network operator brand and company in Hong Kong. It is a joint venture of HKT and .
New World Mobility Limited and New World Mobility was a ...
(majority stake)
* PPS (Payment by Phone Service) – a
bill payment service provided by HKT and
EPS.
* The Club – a Hong Kong customer
loyalty programme.
* HKT Teleservices – formerly PCCW Teleservices, a contact centers and business process outsourcing provider
* HKT Payment Limited – the developer of "Tap & Go", a prepaid mobile payment service for Hong Kong users.
* HKT-eye –
over-the-top media services
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...
and
Internet Protocol TV
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 media ...
service delivered to firmware-modified
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...
* PCCW Global
**
Console Connect
Console Connect by PCCW Global is an easy-to-use platform for the Software-Defined Interconnection® of businesses, applications and infrastructure. It allows users to self-provision private, high-performance connections between a global ecosystem ...
** Crypteia Networks
= HKT Interactive Media/(Now TV/MOOV)
=
Moov is a lossless music digital streaming service based in Hong Kong. It provides music content, including songs, concert videos, MVs and other music shows under a monthly fee.
Former service
*iTV, an
interactive television
Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new informatio ...
Viu
Viu is an
Over-the-top
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...
(OTT) video service operated by PCCW Media providing popular Korean dramas and variety shows.
ViuTV
ViuTV and ViuTVsix are a general entertainment television channel in Hong Kong operated by HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE). The channel serves as a free-to-air outlet of television programmes shown on the channels operated by Now TV. In 2015, HK Television Entertainment was granted a 12-year free-to-air television broadcast license by the Hong Kong Government.
Lenovo PCCW Solutions
![PCCWSolutions logo eng](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/PCCWSolutions_logo_eng.jpg)
PCCW Solutions is the
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...
services and
business process outsourcing
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
(BPO) division of PCCW. Press releases prior to February 2006 refer to PCCW Solutions by the name ''Unihub''.
Unihub was a re-branding of PCCW's ''Business eSolutions'' division, from 1 September 2003.
Business eSolutions division formed a venture with
China Telecom
China Telecom Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the red chip listed companies of state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. Its H shares have been traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 15 Novembe ...
to provide IT solutions to major business organisations in 2002. This was in addition to PCCW's PCITC alliance with
Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (中国石油化工股份有限公司) or Sinopec (), is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai.
Sinopec Limited's parent, Sinopec Gr ...
, formed to serve Sinopec plus other players in China's petrochemical sector. The division also contributed to the new
Hong Kong Identity Card
The Hong Kong identity card (officially HKIC, commonly HKID) is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance (Cap. 177), all residents of age 11 or above wh ...
system in 2003.
In early 2003, Business eSolutions entered a contract to provide services for
Bank of China
The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world.
The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...
's credit-card
back office
A back office in most corporations is where work that supports ''front office'' work is done. The front office is the "face" of the company and is all the resources of the company that are used to make sales and interact with customers and client ...
processing system in China. It also extended a 2002
enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of Business management tools, business management ...
(ERP) project into more provinces for
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
and completed the
flight information display system
A flight information display system (FIDS) is a computer system used in airports to display flight information to passengers, in which a computer system controls mechanical or electronic display boards or monitors in order to display arrivin ...
(FIDS) for
Xiamen Airport
Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport is the airport serving the city of Xiamen in Fujian Province, China. It is the main base of XiamenAir and TAECO, an aircraft maintenance provider. The airport is located on the north side of Xiamen Island ...
, and a
human resource management
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
and financial management system for the Hong Kong Council of Social Service.
Since August 15, 2022 Lenovo become an effective 84% shareholder in Lenovo PCCW Technology Solutions (PLTS) via a direct 80% interest in PLTS and a 20% stake in PCCW Network Services, the holding company of PCCW’s remaining IT solutions obligations in Hong Kong. PLTS will focus on expanding its activities across the Asia Pacific region, which the Lenovo and PCCW believe represents over $300B in addressable IT Services market opportunity.
Pacific Century Premium Developments
Majority-owned by PCCW, Pacific Century Premium Developments ("PCPD", ) develops and manages property and infrastructure projects, as well as investment in buildings in the Asia-Pacific region. PCCW acquired a majority stake in Dong Fang Gas Co. Ltd through a back door listing in 2004, injecting the development rights to the
Cyberport
Cyberport is a business park in Southern District, Hong Kong consisting of four office buildings, a hotel, and a retail entertainment complex. It describes itself as a digital technology community with over 1,800 (800 on-site and 1,0 ...
project, which includes the Bel-Air residential development, and renamed it Pacific Century Premium Developments.
Apart from the Bel-Air residential development, PCPD holds the right of first refusal
Right of first refusal (ROFR or RFR) is a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transaction ...
to redevelop 60 PCCW-owned telephone exchange buildings into residential and / or commercial properties.
Past subsidiaries
UK Broadband
The UK Broadband Group (shortened to UKBG for marketing) is a wholly owned subsidiary and is an upstream service provider. Its UK business has been a failure. In June 2014 UKBG launched a 4G service in central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. In February 2017, PCCW agreed to sell UKBG to related company CK Hutchison Holdings
CK Hutchison Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong-based and Cayman Islands-registered multinational conglomerate corporation. The company was formed in March 2015 through the merger of Cheung Kong Holdings and its main associate company Hutchison Wh ...
.
Jaleco
Corporate history
The legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
of PCCW Limited was incorporated as "Ring Holdings Limited" () on 24 April 1979. It was renamed several times and known as () in 1992. In October 1994 Tricom Holdings became a listed company. In May 1999 Richard Li
Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group Pacific Century Group (PCG), Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of STAR TV, a pan-Asian television ...
acquired the company, and as a backdoor listing, the listed company was renamed to Pacific Century Cyberworks Limited (; abb. PCCW) in the same year.
In March the same year Richard Li
Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group Pacific Century Group (PCG), Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of STAR TV, a pan-Asian television ...
's private company Pacific Century Group
Pacific Century Group (PCG), chaired by Richard Li, is an Asia-based private investment group founded in 1993 with interests in technology, media and telecommunications, financial services, infrastructure, property and other investments. It oper ...
won a controversial land deal, acquiring valuable waterfront real estate from the government without any public auction
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
bids. The Hong Kong government, under chief executive Tung Chee Hwa
Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chine ...
, gave away the land to his new high-tech residential and commercial venture called Cyberport
Cyberport is a business park in Southern District, Hong Kong consisting of four office buildings, a hotel, and a retail entertainment complex. It describes itself as a digital technology community with over 1,800 (800 on-site and 1,0 ...
. The development of Cyberport was later injected to PCCW.
The stock of Pacific Century CyberWorks rose from HK$6.00 to HK$19.50 between 1 and 28 December 1999. 23 Dec is a Heritage of Pacific Century CyberWorks, break record of single company in Hong Kong history with a HK$5 billion transaction. Pacific Century CyberWorks became the seventh-listed (value over HK$170 billion) company on the Hong Kong Exchange on 28 December 1999.
PCCW acquired Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) in August 2000, which was formerly known as the "Hong Kong Telephone Company" (founded in 1925). Initially, HKT owner Cable & Wireless entertained a bid from Singapore Telecommunications
Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...
, but there was Beijing concern about a Singapore company owning the largest Hong Kong telephone system. PCCW entered the scene and offered Cable and Wireless PCCW stock and US$11 billion in bank loans by HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
, Bank of China
The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world.
The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...
, BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...
& Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
. The acquisition vaulted PCCW from a dot-com holdings company to one of the largest universal corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
s in Hong Kong. PCCW is now also the leading 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 private ...
in Hong Kong, using the Netvigator
Netvigator is a residential Internet service provider in Hong Kong, operated as a brand of Hong Kong Telecom, a subsidiary of PCCW. The company did offer iTV, an interactive movie television network that allowed users to watch movies on their T ...
brand for dialup modem and DSL
Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
service. PCCW has been the object of much scorn in Hong Kong as a result of the HKT purchase. In 2003 the company's stock price was down 96 percent from its 2000 peak. In the face of challenges due to debt, intense local telecoms competition and a struggling international joint venture ''Reach'' (50/50 owned by PCCW and Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
), PCCW was the worst-performing blue chip on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...
(HKSE) in 2002 and 2003. Stock price came down from HK$129.25 to HK$4.7 in less than 3 years.
In 2003, Cable and Wireless finished cashing in all the stock from the 14.7 percent stake it had in PCCW. Worth US$5 billion at the time of the 2000 acquisition of HKT, the stock sales yielded only $1.9 billion in the end.
Richard Li gave up his spot as PCCW's chief executive officer in July 2003 but remained as chairman and executive director. Jack So
Jack So Chak-kwong, GBM, GBS, OBE, JP () is the chairman of the Board of Airport Authority Hong Kong from June 2015. He is a former chairman and Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), former chairman and Chi ...
, who left his chairman position at Hong Kong subway operator MTR Corporation Limited
MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...
, took up the job of group managing director at PCCW on 25 July 2003.
The incumbent managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
is George Chan. Former Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Ba ...
president B.G. Srinivas has been announced to be the group's managing director effective July 2014.
After several years as a wholly owned subsidiary, PCCW floated HKT again in 2011.
FBI surveillance
According to the leaked document, undersea cabling company Reach – a joint venture of Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
(then 50.1 percent-owned by the Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
) and PCCW, a Hong Kong corporation – had to send all communications to or from US to a storage facility "physically located in the United States, from which Electronic Surveillance can be conducted pursuant to Lawful US Process." The document also specifies the facility should be run exclusively by US FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
staff.
Attempted privatisation
Although PCCW's substantial shareholder China Netcom
China Netcom, full name China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited (former stock codes: HKEX:0906, NYSE:CN), abbreviated CNC, was a telecommunication service provider in People's Republic of China. It was formed in August 1999 by the Chine ...
had earlier expressed objection to any disposal of key assets to foreign groups, it also refused to increase its stake; Richard Li attempted to exit from the business in 2006. Li received competing offers by two consortia led by Australia's Macquarie Bank
Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...
and private equity firm Texas Pacific Group/Newbridge submitted expressions of interest last month to acquire PCCW's core telecom and media assets.
PCCW chairman Richard Li
Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group Pacific Century Group (PCG), Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of STAR TV, a pan-Asian television ...
has agreed to sell his indirectly held 22.66 percent stake in PCCW on 11 July 2006 to Fiorlatte Ltd, a new startup company wholly owned by Francis Leung Pak-to, for a total consideration of HK$9.16 billion. In turn, Francis Leung Pak-to has agreed to sell an 8% stake in PCCW to Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
for 323 million euros. Leung, former Peregrine investment banker, is closely associated with Li Ka-shing
Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...
. PCCW's stock, which had joined Hang Seng Index
The Hang Seng Index (HSI) is a freefloat-adjusted market- capitalization-weighted stock-market index in Hong Kong. It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market and is the main indicator ...
(HSI) index on 9 August 2000, ceased to be a HSI constituent, effective 10 June 2008.
Purported Cable & Wireless takeover bid
News report from the Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
on 6 February 2003 revealed that PCCW made a preliminary takeover approach to Cable & Wireless in December 2002 as the British company's share languished near record lows.
Li told the Sunday Times newspaper that PCCW would not launch a hostile bid for C&W but that the two companies could work together to enhance shareholders' value.
The Times quoted Li as saying that he was planning to try again that week with a two billion pound (US$3.27 billion) bid for C&W. Following the news report, PCCW issued a statement through the Hong Kong stock exchange on 6 February 2003 morning saying it had not made a formal offer for C&W and was not in takeover talks with the company. Later in the day, in London and Hong Kong, PCCW issued statements saying it had made a preliminary takeover approach to C&W in a letter at the end of 2002.
PCCW apologised on 10 February 2003 for making what were seen by some in the market as contradictory statements. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...
demanded an explanation from PCCW after noting discrepancies between the two statements regarding its approach to C&W about a possible bid.
In any case, C&W had rebuffed PCCW's takeover approach by February 2003.
Privatisation plan
In a heated shareholders meeting held on 4 February 2009 which lasted seven and a half hours, the shareholders approved the PCCW plan allowing its majority shareholders to force out all minority shareholders of the company amidst allegations of vote-buying. Privatisation would allow PCCW to be delisted
In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are officially traded on a stock exchange. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, su ...
from Hong Kong Stock Exchange, while its parent would remain listed in Singapore.
Governance activist David Webb alerted the authorities to allegations that hundreds of agents at Fortis Insurance Co. (Asia), once part of PCCW, may have been given board lots of 1,000 PCCW shares. The Securities and Futures Commission found that Francis Yuen, a Li associate and member of the buyout group, had instructed a senior executive at Fortis to distribute PCCW shares to about 500 Fortis agents. Yuen and Fortis Asia regional director, Inneo Lam, had exchanged telephone calls shortly before Lam ordered half a million PCCW shares that were later split into board lots and given away to his staff; Lam's secretary had asked for, and received, share transfer forms from Yuen's secretary. Majority shareholders gained approval from the High Court to proceed in their US$2.2 billion privatisation, but the Appeals Court unanimously overturned the ruling.[HK court hears call for PCCW privatisation revote]
, Reuters, 17 April 2009.
See also
* Jaleco
was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renam ...
, former subsidiary
References
External links
*
Yahoo! – PCCW Limited Company Profile
Relish Broadband
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pccw
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Former companies in the Hang Seng Index
Hong Kong brands
Internet service providers of Hong Kong
Multinational companies headquartered in Hong Kong
Pacific Century Group
Telecommunications companies of Hong Kong