Cable & Wireless HKT (C&W HKT), formerly know as Hongkong Telecom, has announced a HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) initiative to stimulate public interest in Internet applications.
Hong Kong’s largest telecom will provide this amount for the first year of the scheme which is aimed at popularizing computer and Internet applications among the Hong Kong public.
To launch the program, C&W HKT on Sunday held a 60-minute course, open to the public, which was designed to familiarize participants with basic computer and Internet use.
“The popularity of the Internet is reshaping economies the world over and has already had a significantly impact on the business and personal lives of the people of Hong Kong,” commented C&W HKT’s chief executive Linus W. L. Cheung.
“We are providing funding of HK$10 million to finance the first year’s operations of this scheme to help promote the use of computer and Internet applications,” said Cheung.
Cheung also said the scheme would be extended to cover hundreds of schools and youth centres across the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
C&W HKT will sponsor similar courses and events in other areas of the SAR including Tsing Yi’s Maritime Square, Causeway Bay’s Times Square, Sheung Shui Plaza and Mongkok’s Grand Century Plaza.
This program appears to be similar to the Singapore Government’s plan to educate its citizens about the Internet; Singapore plans to educate 100,000 people within a year.
In Hong Kong’s laissez faire tradition, the SAR government has indicated that it will rely heavily on industry to transfer technology to the populace.