Career Ricky Wong (Hong Kong businessman)

1 career

1.1 years
1.2 idd
1.3 broadband
1.4 asia television
1.5 hong kong television limited

career
early years

ricky s entrepreneurship started 17, when claimed have started first private tutoring school students in hong kong, , earned hk$40,000 (us$5128 in 60s). reported in many other interviews local press through years, ricky wong had business idea of bringing in non-taxed engineering textbooks taiwan when 21, @ 3rd year @ chinese university of hong kong, earned him fortune , helped fellow undergraduates, @ time when textbooks rare , expensive locally.

idd

ricky wong instrumental introduction of callback idd service hong kong. in 90s, idd luxurious service in hong kong, costing hk$12 (usd1.5) per minute , monopolised hong kong telecom. @ time ricky wong migrated canada, canadian government liberalised telecom market using callback, ricky wong , cousin wrote hong kong government it, , government s confirmation, cousins brought callback hong kong.

with new competition, idd price started drop on 50%. in march, after lengthy negotiation government, hong kong telecom international surrendered exclusive licence provision of external telecommunication circuits , services 8 years earlier scheduled expiry in 2006 in return cash compensation of hk$6.7 billion. according official data, cumulative savings resulting competition in mobile , idd service markets have been substantial, while savings idd service estimated @ hk$25.5 billion between 1999 , 2002.

broadband

ricky wong credited bringing broadband internet hong kong. @ time when whole city still wired traditional copper wires using legacy technology (adsl), service speed limited 1.5mbit/s 6mbit/s, ricky wong acquired fixed line service license , began ten-year project of building new network in hong kong using fibre optics, of accumulatively invested on hk$3 billion (us$400 million).

the audacious investment decision considered impossible market , investors, , ricky wong s company had lost money 7 years. investment project went on, equipment , technical support cisco systems, ricky wong built largest metro ethernet in world, , launched first 100mbit/s & 1000mbit/s broadband service residential use in 2004 & 2005. company became second largest service provider in hong kong in 2008, fastest growing service provider in 2009, , targets overtake incumbent in 2016.

in 2010 awarded ernst & young entrepreneur of year china in telecom category.

asia television

on 3 december 2008, linus cheung hired ricky wong new asia television (atv) chief executive. on 4 december, announced both of them lead tv station s reform. station losing hk$1 million day after racking losses of hk$300 million in 2007. station has long been recognised pro-beijing. after 2 weeks ricky wong resigned atv position. wong himself had denied had ever quit position. position @ atv lasted 12 days.

hong kong television limited

in 2013, city telecom renamed hong kong television limited (hktv). ricky wong chairperson of hktv , remains in charge of full operation of hktv. initiated application of broadcast license hktv in 2009, application rejected in october 2013. operations of hktv adversely affected. dismissed 320 staff due crisis. ricky wong , public blamed government using vague , generic phrase basket of factors refuse application. sought way company survive.

in december 2013, hktv acquired mobile tv licence , spectrum needed broadcast, , planned launch services on 1 july 2014. however, in march 2014, government refused accept hktv s technical proposal on deployment of dtmb, mobile tv standard deployed in china. such matter brought court further judgment.

despite these, wong s actions made him named radio hong kong s icon of year in 2013.

in february 2015, wong leads hktv seek business opportunities in internet shopping , launched online shopping platform hktv mall . wong aimed build largest , diversified in terms of brand names, products , services e-shopping mall in hong kong, providing one-stop shop & 24 x 7 services.

hktv mall has lost hk$200 million year within two-year operation. in october 2016, wong launched physical store of hktv mall in north point boost online shopping business, targeted 1.23 million registered subscribers.