Cable & Wireless Plc controlled Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd will face competition in the international call market when Chinese-owned, Canada-based City Telecom exploits a loophole to provide a service via international calling cards: the company claims that it will be able to provide calls at 15% to 20% less than Hong Kong Telecom’s existing rate; in theory, the phone company has a monopoly on international calls until 2006, but City Telecom says that it has leased spare toll free lines from and will use them to connect its customers to its plant in Toronto, from where they will be connected to their destination; City Telecom believes that the carrier will not be able to discriminate against them; unsurprisingly, Hong Kong Telecom is keeping a watching brief.
