Ricky Wong (Hong Kong businessman)
Encyclopedia
Ricky Wong Wai Kay (born December 13, 1962 in Hong Kong
) is a Hong Kong entrepreneur
. He is the chairman and founder
of City Telecom Limited
and Hong Kong Broadband Network
, one of the largest ISP and IDD operators in Hong Kong. He is a member of Zhejiang
Committee, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
; a member of the Board of Trustees, United College
, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a member of the executive committee of the Digital Solidarity Fund of Hong Kong Council of Social Service. He was the chief executive officer
of Asia Television Limited
. However, within two weeks of his appointment, it was declared that he had resigned from his position. This aroused interests of many people in Hong Kong as he stayed in ATV as a consultant
. After the ATV episode, Wong appeared on TV, later on Stage, at the Exclusive Interview with TVB's famous host Stephen Chan. Currently, Wong travels frequently to explore his horizons, including trips to Antarctica, Nepal & Africa. In 2010, Wong was voted the 60th most power person in Global Telecoms Business by the Global Telecom Business Magazine.
from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
.
With this new competition, IDD price started to drop to over 50%. In March, after lengthy negotiation with the Government, Hong Kong Telecom International surrendered its exclusive licence for provision of certain external telecommunication circuits and services eight years earlier than the scheduled expiry in 2006 in return for a cash compensation of HK$6.7 billion. According to official data, Cumulative savings resulting from competition in the mobile and IDD service markets have also been substantial... while savings from IDD service were estimated at HK$25.5 billion between 1999 and 2002.
The audacious investment decision was considered impossible and insane by the market and investors, and Ricky Wong’s company was in the RED for several tough years. As the investment project went on, with Cisco Systems’ equipment and technical support, Ricky Wong successfully built the largest Metro Ethernet in the world, and launched probably the first 100Mbps & 1000Mbps broadband service for residential use in 2004 & 2005. His company has become the second largest service provider in Hong Kong in 2008, the fastest growing service provider in 2009, which targets to overtake the incumbent in 2016.
Entrepreneur of the Year China for Telecom
Category.
originally hired Ricky Wong to be the new ATV
chief executive. On 4 December, it was announced that both of them would lead the TV station's reform. As the station was losing HK$1 million a day after racking up losses of HK$300 million in 2007. The station itself has long been recognized as pro-Beijing.
, which angered several parties close to Beijing
. As Ricky Wong still believed ATV was a television station for Hongkongers saying "GDP per capita in Hong Kong is 10 times that of the mainland. But China is still our country. If we can, we should think how we can contribute to it, while we should not depend excessively on it."
The blow-up between Linus Cheung
and Ricky Wong came at an internal meeting when they planned to ensure that critics would no longer brand ATV as a "pro-Beijing" broadcaster. Wong indicated he wanted to change the style of ATV's news programmes, which raised public criticism on the potential intervention.
Some commentaries compared and described the episode to the Qing dynasty
's failed Hundred Days' Reform
.
Eunis Yao (姚佳雯), was crowned the winner of the beauty competition. A source disclosed that those who voted by internet or SMS
for the first time had the power to decide the winners as opposed to the traditional panel of judges, who had voted differently to the final results. The voters were mainland China
dominated, and the emergence of a Hong Kong winner raised eyebrows.
Eunis Yao was forced to take off the crown as the company investigates the voting record. Linus Cheung
had revealed there were discrepancies in the final vote tallies of the beauty pageant and that an independent committee has been set up to investigate the scandal.
Linus Cheung said the result fixing was not related to Ricky Wong. Though he suggested that his own crime was to have asked the Miss Asia contestant Eunis Yao (袁小曼) whether she had breast implants. Yao responded on 17 December about her breast increasing 1 cup size having to do with drinking milk daily. Another comment was also made about contestant Belinda Yan (顏子菲)'s breast being big.
linus cheng apologised for rudeness admitting he had made a very careless mistake and saying he hoped the contestants and the public could forgive him.
. The mis-interpreted commentary about the station being pro-Beijing did not sit well with ATV's controlling shareholders, the Cha family. The family came under criticism from various sources for appointing the two men. Non-executive director Chan Wing-kee (陳永棋) had said the decision to accept the resignation was based on administrative considerations, not political ones.
After just 2 weeks Ricky Wong was resigned from his ATV position. Wong himself had denied that he had ever quit the position. His position at ATV lasted only 12 days.
Ricky Wong’s latest investment project also lies with the TV market, as his company applies for a Free TV license in Hong Kong, which has been dominated by one TV station for decades. There were two other applicants, both of which are his competitors in Fixed-line & Pay TV business.
Ricky Wong also has a personal blog and publishes an article every week in local free newspapers “The Headline”, where he comments on current social issues.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
) is a Hong Kong entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. He is the chairman and founder
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
of City Telecom Limited
City Telecom (Hong Kong)
City Telecom Limited was established in 1992. It is a provider of residential and corporate fixed network and international telecommunications services in Hong Kong, currently the second largest provider of broadband internet in the country...
and Hong Kong Broadband Network
Hong Kong Broadband Network
Hong Kong Broadband Network Established in 1999, Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited, the wholly owned subsidiary of City Telecom Limited, has been aggressive in developing its own network infrastructure with advanced technology to deliver various fixed telecom network services...
, one of the largest ISP and IDD operators in Hong Kong. He is a member of Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
Committee, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
; a member of the Board of Trustees, United College
United College of Hong Kong
The United College of Hong Kong is one of the constituent colleges of The Chinese University of Hong Kong , and one of the three original colleges when CUHK was founded in 1963...
, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a member of the executive committee of the Digital Solidarity Fund of Hong Kong Council of Social Service. He was the chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Asia Television Limited
Asia Television Limited
Asia Television Limited is one of the two free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being rival Television Broadcasts Limited . It launched in 1957 under the name Rediffusion Television as the first television station in Hong Kong...
. However, within two weeks of his appointment, it was declared that he had resigned from his position. This aroused interests of many people in Hong Kong as he stayed in ATV as a consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
. After the ATV episode, Wong appeared on TV, later on Stage, at the Exclusive Interview with TVB's famous host Stephen Chan. Currently, Wong travels frequently to explore his horizons, including trips to Antarctica, Nepal & Africa. In 2010, Wong was voted the 60th most power person in Global Telecoms Business by the Global Telecom Business Magazine.
Education
Wong holds a bachelor degree in science degree in Electrical EngineeringElectrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...
.
Early years
Ricky’s entrepreneurship started as early as 17, when he claimed to have started the first private tuition school for students in Hong Kong, and earned HK$40,000 (USD5128 in the 60s). Also reported in many other interviews by local press through the years, was that Ricky Wong had this business idea of bringing in non-taxed engineering text books from Taiwan when he was 21, at his 3rd year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which earned him a good fortune and helped fellow under-graduates, at a time when Chinese Text books are rare and expensive.IDD Era
What made Ricky Wong a household name overnight was his introduction of “call-back” to Hong Kong. Back in the early 90s, IDD was a luxurious service in Hong Kong, costing HK$12 (USD1.5) per minute and was monopolized by Hong Kong Telecom. At the time Ricky Wong migrated to Canada, where the Canadian Government liberalized the Telecom market using “call-back”, Ricky Wong and his Cousin then wrote to the Hong Kong Government about it, and with the Government’s approval, the cousins brought “Call-Back” to Hong Kong.With this new competition, IDD price started to drop to over 50%. In March, after lengthy negotiation with the Government, Hong Kong Telecom International surrendered its exclusive licence for provision of certain external telecommunication circuits and services eight years earlier than the scheduled expiry in 2006 in return for a cash compensation of HK$6.7 billion. According to official data, Cumulative savings resulting from competition in the mobile and IDD service markets have also been substantial... while savings from IDD service were estimated at HK$25.5 billion between 1999 and 2002.
Broadband Era
As the world becomes Internet based, Ricky Wong foresaw a new battleground in the local telecommunication market. At the time when the whole city is still wired up by traditional copper wired using legacy technology (ADSL), with service speed limited to 1.5Mbps to 6Mbps, Ricky Wong acquired a fixed line service license and began a 10 years project of building an all new network in Hong Kong using Fibre Optics, of which accumulatively invested over HK$3billion (ard USD4million).The audacious investment decision was considered impossible and insane by the market and investors, and Ricky Wong’s company was in the RED for several tough years. As the investment project went on, with Cisco Systems’ equipment and technical support, Ricky Wong successfully built the largest Metro Ethernet in the world, and launched probably the first 100Mbps & 1000Mbps broadband service for residential use in 2004 & 2005. His company has become the second largest service provider in Hong Kong in 2008, the fastest growing service provider in 2009, which targets to overtake the incumbent in 2016.
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
In 2010 he was awarded the Ernst & YoungErnst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
Entrepreneur of the Year China for Telecom
Telecom
Telecom refers to:* An abbreviation of telecommunication.* Short for telecommunications company, in general.* A short name for any telecommunications company with "Telecom" specifically in the name, where context allows media or people to commonly exclude the rest of its name without confusion,...
Category.
2008 ATV management debacle
On 3 December Linus CheungLinus Cheung
Linus Cheung Wing Lam, JP was the chairman of Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong. He was the deputy chairman of PCCW Limited, the chief executive of Hong Kong Telecom, the executive director of Cable & Wireless plc in the United Kingdom, and deputy managing director of Cathay Pacific Airways...
originally hired Ricky Wong to be the new ATV
Asia Television Limited
Asia Television Limited is one of the two free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being rival Television Broadcasts Limited . It launched in 1957 under the name Rediffusion Television as the first television station in Hong Kong...
chief executive. On 4 December, it was announced that both of them would lead the TV station's reform. As the station was losing HK$1 million a day after racking up losses of HK$300 million in 2007. The station itself has long been recognized as pro-Beijing.
View on How ATV should be run
Speculations came about that Ricky Wong's resignation was due to his controversial comments about how ATV shouldn't act as a channel of mainland's CCTVChina Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
, which angered several parties close to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. As Ricky Wong still believed ATV was a television station for Hongkongers saying "GDP per capita in Hong Kong is 10 times that of the mainland. But China is still our country. If we can, we should think how we can contribute to it, while we should not depend excessively on it."
The blow-up between Linus Cheung
Linus Cheung
Linus Cheung Wing Lam, JP was the chairman of Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong. He was the deputy chairman of PCCW Limited, the chief executive of Hong Kong Telecom, the executive director of Cable & Wireless plc in the United Kingdom, and deputy managing director of Cathay Pacific Airways...
and Ricky Wong came at an internal meeting when they planned to ensure that critics would no longer brand ATV as a "pro-Beijing" broadcaster. Wong indicated he wanted to change the style of ATV's news programmes, which raised public criticism on the potential intervention.
Some commentaries compared and described the episode to the Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
's failed Hundred Days' Reform
Hundred Days' Reform
The Hundred Days' Reform was a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform movement from 11 June to 21 September 1898 in late Qing Dynasty China. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters...
.
Miss Asia Pageant scandals & controversial comments
After the 2008 Miss Asia PageantMiss Asia Pageant
The Miss Asia Pageant , is organized by the Asia Television Limited , and they have organized this event since 1985. The contest was stopped from the year of 2000 through 2003, and relaunched in 2004....
Eunis Yao (姚佳雯), was crowned the winner of the beauty competition. A source disclosed that those who voted by internet or SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
for the first time had the power to decide the winners as opposed to the traditional panel of judges, who had voted differently to the final results. The voters were mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
dominated, and the emergence of a Hong Kong winner raised eyebrows.
Eunis Yao was forced to take off the crown as the company investigates the voting record. Linus Cheung
Linus Cheung
Linus Cheung Wing Lam, JP was the chairman of Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong. He was the deputy chairman of PCCW Limited, the chief executive of Hong Kong Telecom, the executive director of Cable & Wireless plc in the United Kingdom, and deputy managing director of Cathay Pacific Airways...
had revealed there were discrepancies in the final vote tallies of the beauty pageant and that an independent committee has been set up to investigate the scandal.
Linus Cheung said the result fixing was not related to Ricky Wong. Though he suggested that his own crime was to have asked the Miss Asia contestant Eunis Yao (袁小曼) whether she had breast implants. Yao responded on 17 December about her breast increasing 1 cup size having to do with drinking milk daily. Another comment was also made about contestant Belinda Yan (顏子菲)'s breast being big.
linus cheng apologised for rudeness admitting he had made a very careless mistake and saying he hoped the contestants and the public could forgive him.
Aftermath
Wong later returned to City Telecom LimitedCity Telecom (Hong Kong)
City Telecom Limited was established in 1992. It is a provider of residential and corporate fixed network and international telecommunications services in Hong Kong, currently the second largest provider of broadband internet in the country...
. The mis-interpreted commentary about the station being pro-Beijing did not sit well with ATV's controlling shareholders, the Cha family. The family came under criticism from various sources for appointing the two men. Non-executive director Chan Wing-kee (陳永棋) had said the decision to accept the resignation was based on administrative considerations, not political ones.
After just 2 weeks Ricky Wong was resigned from his ATV position. Wong himself had denied that he had ever quit the position. His position at ATV lasted only 12 days.
Showbiz
Ricky Wong’s interests in TV business does not stop at ATV, where he appeared on TVB’s pay Television, on an exclusive interview with Stephen Chan, as well as the same program on stage in April 2009.Ricky Wong’s latest investment project also lies with the TV market, as his company applies for a Free TV license in Hong Kong, which has been dominated by one TV station for decades. There were two other applicants, both of which are his competitors in Fixed-line & Pay TV business.
Beyond Entrepreneurship
Ricky Wong stepped down as CEO of his company in 2008 and hands off her daily operations. Admitted openly that the 1st half of his game of life has drawn to an end, Ricky Wong seeks to live life to its fullest, which included learn to play the Piano, spend more time with his kids (a daughter and a son), a trip to the Antarctica which he sponsored for scientific purpose, as well as a trip to Nepal to experience hardship of poverty.Ricky Wong also has a personal blog and publishes an article every week in local free newspapers “The Headline”, where he comments on current social issues.