As at March 2025, there were a total of 13 TV licensees, including three free TV, one pay TV and nine non-domestic TV licensees. They provided 370 television channels3, of which about 50 non-domestic TV channels were receivable in Hong Kong. An overview of the television channels provided by the commercial licensees and RTHK, the public service broadcaster, is shown in Figure 1.
Hong Kong implemented full digital TV broadcast on 1 December 2020. As at March 2025, the three free TV licensees, viz. HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB, provided a total of ten digital channels in high definition television (HDTV) format, viz. “ViuTV” and “ViuTVsix” (by HKTVE), “HOY TV”, “HOY International Business Channel” and “HOY Infotainment Channel” (by i-CABLE HOY), and “Jade”, “Pearl”, “TVB Plus”4, “TVB News Channel” and “Phoenix Hong Kong Channel”4 (by TVB). RTHK, the public service broadcaster in Hong Kong, provided five digital channels.
As at March 2025, the pay TV licensee, viz. Now TV Limited (Now TV)5 provided a total of 211 pay TV channels6 and was offering a diverse range of local and non-local productions.
As at March 2025, there were nine non-domestic TV licensees providing around 150 television channels. Hong Kong viewers could receive about 50 of those channels.
During the period under review, there were 21 other licensable TV licensees providing television programme services in more than 60 hotels in Hong Kong.
Figure 1: Television Channels Provided by Commercial Licensees and RTHK in Hong Kong (as at 31 March 2025)
| Month & Year | Free TV* | Pay TV | Non-domestic TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Channels | |||
| Mar 2016 | 15 | 401 | 276 |
| Mar 2017 | 10 | 403 | 186 |
| Mar 2018 | 11 | 393 | 188 |
| Mar 2019 | 12 | 389 | 221 |
| Mar 2020 | 12 | 366 | 188 |
| Mar 2021 | 12 | 362 | 217 |
| Mar 2022 | 12 | 335 | 203 |
| Mar 2023 | 14 | 333 | 134 |
| Mar 2024 | 15 | 205 | 145 |
| Mar 2025 | 15 | 211 | 149 |
Sources: Licensees
* While some free TV channels were simulcast in both analogue and digital formats during the period of 2016 to 2020, the total number of free TV channels is calculated by reference to the channels broadcast in digital format only.
In addition to satellite television channels provided by non-domestic TV licensees, Hong Kong
viewers can also receive free unencrypted satellite television channels uplinked from outside Hong
Kong. As at March 2025, there were around 500 free-to-air satellite television channels available
for reception via the Satellite Master Antenna Television Systems in Hong Kong. A list of these
channels is available at http://www.ofca.gov.hk/filemanager/ofca/en/content_295/
During the period under review, there were two sound broadcasting licensees, viz. Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited (CRHK) and Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited (Metro). RTHK, the public service broadcaster in Hong Kong, also provided sound broadcasting service.
As at March 2025, there were a total of 14 radio channels (three by CRHK, three by Metro and eight by RTHK) providing round-the-clock sound broadcasting services to the public.
Licensed broadcasting services contributed an estimated $6.9 billion7 to the Hong Kong economy, which represented about 0.2% of the gross domestic product in 2024. There are two main sources of revenues for the provision of broadcasting services, viz. advertising and subscription. The incomes of free TV licensees and sound broadcasting licensees mainly come from advertising sales8. Pay TV licensee, on the other hand, derives its incomes mainly from subscription fees with advertising sales as a secondary income source.
According to research9, television and radio accounted for 11% (about $3 billion) and 4% (about $1 billion) respectively of the accumulated $28 billion advertising revenues in the entertainment and media industry of Hong Kong in 2024.
In 2024, the actual advertising revenue of TVB was $1,464 million. The actual advertising revenues of other licensees were not publicly available.
According to the annual report of HKT Trust and HKT Limited (HKT), the holding company of Now TV, the turnover of its pay TV services and related services provided in Hong Kong under the “Now TV” brand was $2.3 billion in 2024.
Key investment projects in the television industry in recent years include the digital terrestrial broadcasting network, HDTV content and production technology, interactive television services, and regular network maintenance and upgrades that are required to maintain or expand the ever-advancing scope of services.
HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB have respectively committed to investing a total of $2.2 billion for the six-year period from 2021 to 2027, $1.3 billion for the six-year period from 2022 to 2028 and $6.6 billion for the six-year period from 2022 to 2027 for the provision of free TV services. Investment commitments of HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB comprise capital expenditures and programming expenditures. As at March 2025, HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB provided 289, 504 and 836 hours of HDTV programmes per week respectively. i-CABLE HOY and TVB also provided 68 and 1 172 hours of independent local productions in their programming respectively in 2024.
As regards the pay TV market, HKT, the holding company of Now TV, reported in the 2024 Annual Report that the capital expenditure of the group was around $2,214 million in 2024. Its major items of investment included property, plant and equipment, and interests in leasehold land.
On the sound broadcasting side, CRHK and Metro have committed to investing $549 million and $561 million respectively for the six-year period from 2022 to 2028 covering production of radio programmes and upgrading of transmission facilities and equipment in order to provide better sound quality and to enhance station coverage and efficiency of the radio production.
(a) Programme Variety and Diversity
As at March 2025, the licensees broadcast about 40 394 hours of television programmes a week. The ten digital channels of HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB provided a total of 1 631 broadcast hours per week, while the 211 channels of Now TV provided more than 29 000 broadcast hours per week. As a public service broadcaster, RTHK provided 840 hours per week on its five digital channels. About 50 channels of non-domestic TV licensees receivable in Hong Kong provided about 9 000 broadcast hours per week.
The total broadcast hours per week provided by CRHK, Metro and RTHK as at March 2025 were 2 352.
During the period under review, there were a total of 40 930 hours of station productions broadcast on HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB. Of the 211 channels provided by Now TV, around 20% were produced by Now TV itself.
Integrated Chinese and English Channels
During the period under review, drama series (20.5%) and news/weather programmes (15.0%) continued to be the dominant programme genres on the integrated Chinese channels (viz. “HOY TV”, “Jade” and “ViuTV”). Drama series on “Jade” were mostly in-house productions; while “HOY TV”, “Jade” and “ViuTV” broadcast Chinese Mainland, Korean and Japanese drama series. In addition, music programmes/variety shows (9.3%), sports programmes (8.0%), children’s programmes/animation (7.1%), magazine/talk shows (6.4%), business/financial programmes (4.9%), travelogues (3.8%) and cooking programmes (3.2%), etc. were also broadcast on the integrated Chinese channels. The five channels provided by RTHK presented a variety of programmes to not only serve a broad spectrum of audiences, but also cater for the needs of minority interest groups.
Figure 2: Weekly Hours of Different Types of Programmes Broadcast on HOY TV, Jade and ViuTV (as at March 2025)
| Programme Types | Hours | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Dramas | 103.2 | 20.5 |
| News/Weather Programmes | 75.7 | 15.0 |
| Music Programmes/Variety Shows | 46.6 | 9.3 |
| Sports Programmes | 40.1 | 8.0 |
| Children's Programmes/Animation | 35.9 | 7.1 |
| Magazine/Talk Shows | 32.2 | 6.4 |
| Business/Financial Programmes | 24.6 | 4.9 |
| Travelogues | 19.3 | 3.8 |
| Cooking Programmes | 15.9 | 3.2 |
| *Others | 109.8 | 21.8 |
| Weekly Total | 503.3 | 100 |
Sources: Licensees
* Other programmes include current affairs programmes, documentaries
and health/medical programmes, etc.
The integrated English channels (viz. “HOY International Business Channel”, “Pearl” and “ViuTVsix”) broadcast a wide range of programmes, including business/financial programmes (23.1%), sports programmes (13.7%), children’s programmes/animation (11.2%), news/weather programmes (11.1%), documentaries (7.9%), music programmes/variety shows (6.4%), feature films (4.7%), cooking programmes (2.9%) and drama series (2.6%).
Figure 3: Weekly Hours of Different Types of Programmes Broadcast on HOY International Business Channel, Pearl and ViuTVsix (as at March 2025)
| Programme Types | Hours | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Business/Financial Programmes | 106.1 | 23.1 |
| Sports Programmes | 63.1 | 13.7 |
| Children's Programmes/Animation | 51.6 | 11.2 |
| News/Weather Programmes | 50.9 | 11.1 |
| Documentaries | 36.5 | 7.9 |
| Music Programmes/Variety Shows | 29.4 | 6.4 |
| Feature Films | 21.8 | 4.7 |
| Cooking Programmes | 13.5 | 2.9 |
| Dramas | 11.9 | 2.6 |
| *Others | 75.5 | 16.4 |
| Weekly Total | 460.3 | 100 |
Sources: Licensees
* Other programmes include current affairs programmes, travelogues and health/medical programmes, etc.
Thematic Channels
During the period under review, TVB provided acquired dramas, documentaries, variety shows, news, financial information programmes, current affairs, etc. on “TVB Plus”10, “TVB News Channel” and “Phoenix Hong Kong Channel”10. i-CABLE HOY provided news, financial information, current affairs, infotainment programmes, etc. on “HOY Infotainment Channel”.
During the period under review, a great variety of channels were offered on pay TV services, including sports channels (30.8%), entertainment/infotainment channels (26.5%), news/information channels (9.5%), movie channels (9.0%), and documentary/learning channels (7.6%).
Figure 4: Nature of Pay TV Channels (as at March 2025)
| Nature of Channels | Quantity | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Sports | 65 | 30.8 |
| Entertainment/Infotainment | 56 | 26.5 |
| News/Information | 20 | 9.5 |
| Movie | 19 | 9.0 |
| Documentary/Learning | 16 | 7.6 |
| Adult | 11 | 5.2 |
| Children | 9 | 4.3 |
| Music | 2 | 0.9 |
| Others | 13 | 6.2 |
| Total Number of Channels | 211 | 100 |
Sources: Licensees
As at March 2025, the pay TV service of Now TV offered 138 linear channels and 73 video-on-demand channels.
As at March 2025, CRHK operated two frequency modulation (FM) Cantonese channels, viz. “CR1” and “CR2”, and one amplitude modulation (AM) English channel, viz. “AM 864”. “CR1” mainly provided news, current affairs, financial and personal view programmes. “CR2”, targeting younger listeners, featured pop culture and music programmes. “AM864” was primarily a music channel.
Metro operated two FM Cantonese channels, viz. “Metro Finance” and “Metro Info”, and one AM English channel, viz. “Metro Plus”. “Metro Finance” provided real-time, market-moving news and information on financial markets around the world. “Metro Info” provided music and programmes on lifestyle, health, market news and other information of interest to the public. “Metro Plus” was primarily a music channel which also provided some programmes for ethnic groups including the Filipino, Indian and Thai communities in Hong Kong.
RTHK operated eight radio channels, providing Cantonese, English and Putonghua services. It offered a variety of thematic channels ranging from information to general entertainment and culture.
(b) Positive Programme Requirements
During the period under review, the Authority issued directions requiring the three free TV licensees (viz. HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB) to broadcast at least 41.5, 41.5 and 45.5 hours of positive programmes per week11. They all met the stipulated requirements.
The reports submitted by the licensees to the Authority on positive programmes are available at https://www.coms-auth.hk/en/licensing/broadcasting/compliance_reports/index.html.
Figure 5: Broadcast of Positive Programmes on Free TV Services (as at March 2025)
| Programme Types | HKTVE | i-CABLE HOY | TVB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Weekly Hours | |||
| News Programmes | 10.5 | 11.9 | 13.0 |
| Children's Programmes | 14.1 | 14.1 | 14.5 |
| Programmes for Young Persons | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Current Affairs Programmes* | 3.0 | 2.8 | 4.4 |
Source: Licensees
* Including programmes on national education, national identity and National Security Law
Figure 6: Broadcast of Positive Programmes under the “Others” Category on Free TV Services (as at March 2025)
| HKTVE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Programme Types | Percentage (%) | Average Weekly Hours |
| Sports Programmes | 40 | 17.66 |
| Documentary Programmes | 33 | |
| Arts and Culture Programmes | 10 | |
| Science Programmes | 6 | |
| Environment Programmes | 4 | |
| Others (including medical and healthcare, senior citizens and ethnic minority) | 7 | |
| i-CABLE HOY | ||
|---|---|---|
| Programme Types | Percentage (%) | Average Weekly Hours |
| Sports Programmes | 74 | 38.86 |
| Documentary Programmes | 13 | |
| Medical and Healthcare Programmes | 7 | |
| Arts and Culture Programmes | 4 | |
| Science Programmes | 1 | |
| Others (including environment, senior citizens and civic education) | 1 | |
| TVB | ||
|---|---|---|
| Programme Types | Percentage (%) | Average Weekly Hours |
| Documentary Programmes | 29 | 21.15 |
| Medical and Healthcare Programmes | 17 | |
| Sports Programmes | 16 | |
| Arts and Culture Programmes | 14 | |
| Programmes for Senior Citizens | 13 | |
| Others (including civic education, ethnic minority, science and environment) | 11 | |
Pursuant to licence requirements, free TV licensees were directed to provide subtitles for all news, current affairs programmes, weather programmes and emergency announcements, as well as programmes broadcast during prime time (7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) on the integrated Chinese and English channels12. On the whole, HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY, and TVB complied with the requirements on the provision of subtitles.
To meet public demand for easier access to information by persons with hearing impairment, each of the free TV licensees was directed to provide sign language of not less than 25 minutes duration in its Cantonese news programme each day pursuant to the licence requirements. HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB provided their signed news programmes on “ViuTV”, “HOY Infotainment Channel” and “Pearl” respectively. They all fulfilled this requirement.
HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB were directed to broadcast two minutes of Announcements in the Public Interest (APIs) in every two clock hours on each channel pursuant to licence requirements. Also, they were directed to broadcast, on a weekly basis, not more than five minutes in aggregate of publicity material for the Authority on each of the integrated Chinese and English channels13. During the period under review, HKTVE, i-CABLE HOY and TVB broadcast a total of 1 455 hours of the two types of materials.
CRHK and Metro were each required to broadcast at least 29 hours of positive programmes14 per week under their respective licences. CRHK and Metro broadcast the required amount of positive programmes.
CRHK and Metro also fulfilled the
requirements on the broadcast of one
minute of APIs in each hour and not
more than five minutes of publicity
material for the Authority each week
on each service channel. The reports
submitted by the licensees to the
Authority on positive programmes are
available at https://www.coms-auth.hk/en/licensing/broadcasting/
Figure 7: Broadcast of Positive Programmes on Sound Broadcasting Services (as at March 2025)
| Programme Types | CRHK | Metro |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly Average Hours | ||
| News and Weather | 43.4 | 52.3 |
| Current Affairs Programmes* | 22.2 | 12.1 |
| Arts and Culture Programmes | 6.0 | 3.7 |
| Programmes for Senior Citizens | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| Programmes for Young Persons | 3.5 | 8.0 |
| Children's Programmes | 2.0 | 0.5 |
Sources: Licensees
* Including programmes on national education, national identity and National Security Law
Hong Kong is a broadcasting hub in the Asia Pacific region. As at March 2025, there were nine non-domestic TV licensees operating in and broadcasting from Hong Kong. Altogether, they offered around 150 satellite television channels serving viewers in the Asia Pacific region, Europe and Africa, with about 50 channels receivable in Hong Kong. A summary of the non-domestic TV services as at March 2025 is at Annex 1.
Hong Kong has one of the most sophisticated and advanced telecommunications markets in the world. This has been an important factor in Hong Kong’s development as a leading global business and financial centre. The telecommunications sector employed around 19 000 persons in 2024, whilst its gross output amounted to $117 billion in 2023.
All sectors of Hong Kong’s telecommunications market have been liberalised with no foreign ownership restrictions on telecommunications operators. The Authority’s objectives are to maintain a level playing field in the open and competitive telecommunications market and to ensure that consumers get the best services available in terms of efficiency, quality and price.
The Authority issues carrier licences to facility-based operators, authorising them to establish and maintain telecommunications networks and facilities which may cross unleased government land and public streets, for the provision of public telecommunications services.
The unified carrier licensing framework has been implemented since 1 August 2008 as the single licensing vehicle for the provision of facility-based fixed, mobile and/or converged telecommunications services in Hong Kong.
A Unified Carrier Licence (UCL) for the provision of local fixed service authorises the licensee to establish and maintain fixed network, wireline-based or wireless-based, or a combination of both where applicable, to provide local telecommunications services between fixed points within Hong Kong. A UCL for the provision of external fixed service authorises the licensee to provide external transmissions and services operated over external facilities such as submarine cables and satellite communications systems. A UCL for the provision of mobile service enables the licensee to provide two-way communications between moving locations or between a moving location and a fixed location in Hong Kong. The issue of new UCL for the provision of mobile service is subject to the availability of radio spectrum for assignment. An operator may apply for a single UCL to provide all the above services.
As at March 2025, there were a total of 60 holders of UCL, providing local fixed services, cable-based external fixed services, non-cable-based external fixed services and/or mobile services.
Services which may be authorised under the Public Radiocommunications Service (PRS) Licence include radio paging, community repeater (trunked radio) services, vehicle location information services, one-way data message services, public mobile radio data services and railway signaling services.
As the provision of radiocommunications services requires the assignment of suitable operating frequencies, PRS Licences are granted only when the required radio spectrum is available.
As at March 2025, there were a total of six PRS licensees.
Services-based Operators (SBOs) make use of the networks and facilities of other licensed facility-based operators for the provision of public telecommunications services, but they are not authorised to establish or maintain any telecommunications means which cross public streets or unleased government lands.
SBO licence covers three types of services, namely, Class 1 and Class 2 local voice telephony services, and Class 3 services which may include external telecommunications service, Internet access service, international value-added network service, MVNO service, private payphone service, public radio communications relay service, security and fire alarm signals transmission service, teleconferencing service and mobile communications service on board an aircraft.
As at March 2025, there were a total of 513 SBO licensees.
Under the class licensing framework, parties meeting the specified eligibility criteria and conditions (including relevant registration requirement) automatically become the class licensees, and are required to comply with the conditions set out in the relevant Class Licence as well as the TO. Currently, there are ten types of Class Licences:
Apart from the licences mentioned above, there are a number of miscellaneous licences under the purview of the Authority.
A breakdown of the types and numbers of all telecommunications licences is at Annex 2.
Competition in public mobile services has always been keen. As at March 2025, four major MNOs, namely, China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited, Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited, Hutchison Telephone Company Limited and SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited, were providing a wide range of public mobile services.
MNOs provide second generation, third generation, 4G and 5G mobile services in Hong Kong at very affordable prices. As at March 2025, there were about 27.8 million subscriptions to mobile communications services. The mobile subscriber penetration rate reached almost 360%, one of the highest in the world, with over 99% of them being subscriptions of 4G and 5G mobile services. Further to the commercial launch of 5G services since April 2020, 5G mobile service subscriptions reached 8.8 million in March 2025, representing a mobile subscriber penetration rate of 116%. With the continued development of 5G services, increasingly higher speed of mobile communications will be supported.
With an ever growing demand for mobile data services, the monthly mobile data usage surged to 252 983.5 Terabytes in March 2025, representing 1.2 times of the monthly usage over the same period in 2024. The monthly mobile data usage per capita reached 33 318.7 Megabytes in March 2025, compared with 28 748.9 Megabytes in March 2024, representing an increase of 15.9%. The development of 5G services and innovative applications enabled by 5G will further boost mobile data usage in the future.
Figure 8: Number of Mobile Service Subscriptions (2015 to 2024)
| Year | 2G | 3G | 4G | 4G/5G | 5G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of Subscriptions in December (Million) |
|||||
| 2015 | 2.6 | 8.3 | 5.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2016 | 1.6 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2017 | 1.4 | 4.3 | 13.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2018 | 0.7 | 4.4 | 16.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 0.3 | 4.6 | 19.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2020 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 20.1 | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| 2022 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 16.6 | 0.0 | 4.6 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 17.2 | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 19.7 | 0.0 | 8.0 |
Figure 9: Mobile Service Subscriptions of Postpaid and Prepaid SIM (2015 to 2024)
| Year | Post-paid | Pre-paid |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of Subscriptions in December (Million) |
||
| 2015 | 8.0 | 8.8 |
| 2016 | 8.2 | 9.1 |
| 2017 | 8.6 | 10.4 |
| 2018 | 9.2 | 12.4 |
| 2019 | 9.5 | 14.5 |
| 2020 | 9.5 | 13.6 |
| 2021 | 9.8 | 15.0 |
| 2022 | 9.7 | 12.6 |
| 2023 | 10.0 | 14.4 |
| 2024 | 10.3 | 17.6 |
Figure 10: Mobile Data Usage (2015 to 2024)
| Year | Yearly Mobile Data Usage (TB) |
Monthly Mobile Data Usage per Capita in December (MB) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 216 581.6 | 2 737.8 |
| 2016 | 264 658.6 | 3 170.1 |
| 2017 | 330 368.0 | 4 938.0 |
| 2018 | 528 908.0 | 6 868.0 |
| 2019 | 742 009.0 | 9 286.8 |
| 2020 | 934 713.6 | 11 835.3 |
| 2021 | 1 188 436.2 | 15 469.0 |
| 2022 | 1 620 008.1 | 20 960.0 |
| 2023 | 2 096 522.7 | 25 855.8 |
| 2024 | 2 600 357.8 | 30 722.5 |
The local fixed communications services market has been fully liberalised with no preset limit on the number of licences to be issued for fixed services, or deadline for submission of licence applications. Furthermore, there is no specific requirement on network roll-out and investment and licensees may provide their services according to their proposals.
As at March 2025, there were 29 local FNOs holding UCLs for the provision of local fixed services, providing around 60.7 fixed lines per 100 households, one of the highest in the world. They were, in alphabetical order:
As at March 2025, 92.7% and 80.7% of households were able to enjoy a choice of at least two and three self-built customer access networks respectively. It is expected that the figures will keep growing as the carriers continue to roll out their networks.
As at March 2025, 29 FNOs and 303 SBOs were authorised to provide broadband Internet access services in Hong Kong. With the continuous network rollout of FNOs, the Hong Kong community can enjoy nearly ubiquitous coverage of broadband networks through the deployment of various technologies including asymmetric digital subscriber line, hybrid fibre coaxial cable, fibre-to-the-building, fibre-to-the-home, etc. Broadband access to various applications and content services has become an integral part of the life of people in Hong Kong. As at March 2025, there were around three million residential and commercial fixed-broadband subscriptions, with a household penetration rate exceeding 97%. Broadband services are available at speeds up to 50 gigabits per second (Gbps). Around 91.7% of the fixed broadband subscriptions are supported by broadband services with speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or above. The statistics of fixed broadband subscriptions as at March 2025 and the statistics for the past ten years are shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12 respectively.
Figure 11: Statistics of Fixed Broadband Subscriptions (as at March 2025)
| Item | No. of Subscriptions | % share |
|---|---|---|
| Total no. of broadband subscriptions | 2 992 284 | 100 |
| Broadband speed of 100 Mbps or above | 2 743 340 | 91.7 |
| Broadband speed below 100 Mbps | 248 944 | 8.3 |
| Residential | 2 702 836 | 90.3 |
| Commercial | 289 448 | 9.7 |
Figure 12: Fixed Broadband Subscriptions (2015 to 2024)
| Year | Residential | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Subscribers (Million) | ||
| 2015 | 2.04 | 0.24 |
| 2016 | 2.25 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 2.35 | 0.28 |
| 2018 | 2.37 | 0.29 |
| 2019 | 2.42 | 0.29 |
| 2020 | 2.49 | 0.31 |
| 2021 | 2.56 | 0.32 |
| 2022 | 2.61 | 0.33 |
| 2023 | 2.67 | 0.32 |
| 2024 | 2.66 | 0.30 |
Internet of Things is a technology which enables the provision of communications platforms and services for interconnected devices to generate, exchange and consume data with minimal human intervention. Currently, Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) licensees, MNOs and MVNOs are authorised to provide WIoT services. Since the creation of the WIoT licence in December 2017, four WIoT licences have been issued. With the development of new wireless technologies such as 5G mobile technologies and smart city applications, it is expected that there will be an increasing number of WIoT devices connecting to the public telecommunications networks in future.
As at March 2025, there were ten cable landing stations in Hong Kong: three in Chung Hom Kok, three in Tseung Kwan O, two in Tong Fuk, and the other two in Cape D’Aguilar and Deep Water Bay respectively, making it a major telecommunications and Internet hub in the region.
In March 2025, Hong Kong was connected to 11 regional and transcontinental submarine cable systems. They are Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), Asia-America Gateway Cable System (AAG), Asia Direct Cable System (ADC), Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN-2), Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), Asia Submarine-Cable Express (ASE), EAC – C2C, FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL)/REACH North Asia Loop (RNAL), Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE), South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC) and TGN-Intra Asia Cable System (TGN-IA). As at March 2025, the total equipped external capacity exceeded 298 477 Gbps. Total external telephone traffic was 1.1 billion minutes for 2024. With the support of OFCA’s single-point-of-contact service, several new regional or transcontinental submarine cable systems are under construction and scheduled to be put into service gradually between 2025 and 2029.
Figure 13: Submarine Cables between Hong Kong and Other Economies
[A map showing the submarine cables between Hong Kong and other economies.]
Source: TeleGeography
Hong Kong adopts an open sky policy in regulating the provision of satellite services. Satellite-based telecommunications and television broadcasting services are provided via a multitude of satellites in the region with more than 160 transmitting/receiving satellite antennae in earth stations operated by a number of FNOs.
Licences are required for the operation of satellites and associated facilities. As at March 2025, there were a total of ten in-orbit geostationary satellites operated by three Hong Kong companies, namely Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited, APT Satellite Company Limited, and APSTAR Alliance Satcom Limited which are licensed to provide satellite communications services.
Source: PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2025-2029, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook.html. All television advertising revenues are net spending excluding agency commissions, production costs and discounts.