Best International Wholesale Carrier | Hutchison Global Communications Limited (HGC) |
| Last year's winner: | Pacnet |
| Business segments: | Fixed-line retail broadband, voice; international corporate and wholesale; network systems integration and software application services. |
| CEO: | Peter Wong |
| Key shareholders: | Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong Holdings Ltd (100%) |
Wholesale is supposedly a commodity business, but no one has told HGC. The Hong Kong-based carrier is all about differentiation - in network routes, diversity and product portfolio, as well as in price.
"If everyone is doing the same, there's no chance for us to succeed," says Andrew Kwok, senior vice president for international business.
Kwok stresses solutions development and the need to tailor offerings for customers. Network rollout is not enough. "We must also provide solutions," he told Telecom Asia.
"A lot of carriers try to enhance their networks continuously. We do the same, however, we try to add value to the expansion," he said.
The company, a fully-owned subsidiary of Li Ka-shing's listed Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong Holdings, does not disclose financial details, but last year its carrier business grew as a share of total revenue from 43% to 47%.
HGC sees a rising market in Southeast Asia. It installed the first IP-VPN MPLS POP in isolationist Myanmar in 2008, and last year built out what its calls GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion) - a meshed network of subsea and terrestrial cables covering Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
HGC boasts the most diversified routes into mainland China. It was the first to offer four cross-border cables across the border from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, connecting with all three Chinese carriers, adding capacity and redundancy over one of the region's most heavily-trafficked routes.