The former holding company of the group was Cable & Wireless HKT Limited (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司; former

ticker symbol: 8). It was a subsidiary

of Cable & Wireless plc. It was taken over and privatised by PCCW in 2000.[3] PCCW also started to use the ticker symbol "8" after the takeover. Cable
& Wireless HKT Limited was formerly known as Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited (Chinese: 香港電訊有限公司), which was incorporated in
1987;[4] it was renamed to Cable & Wireless HKT Limited in 1999,[4] but renamed again to PCCW-HKT Limited in 2000;[4] PCCW-HKT still use the same
registered Chinese name (香港電訊有限公司) until 2011, which in the same year the Chinese name became the registered Chinese name of HKT
Limited instead.[4]

PCCW-HKT had a major subsidiary PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited (Chinese: 香港電話有限公司),[5] which was incorporated in 1925 under the name
Hongkong Telephone Company, Limited;[4] it was briefly known as Cable & Wireless HKT Telephone Limited (Chinese: 香港電話有限公司) from 1999 to
2000.[4] As of 31 December 2017, PCCW-HKT[2]: 80 as well as PCCW-HKT Telephone were still live, wholly owned subsidiaries of PCCW.[2]: 78 However,
the telephone services are now provided by HKT's wholly owned subsidiary, Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Limited instead,[6] after a group
restructuring in 2008.[7]

In October 2011, PCCW shareholders approved a partial spin-off of the assets as HKT on the Hong Kong stock exchange (but excluding the two legal
persons PCCW-HKT and PCCW-HKT Telephone). HKT was successfully listed on 29 November 2011, as HKT Limited and HKT Trust. [8][9] HKT Limited
was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, while its direct parent entity, HKT Trust, was set up in Hong Kong under the laws of Hong Kong.[6]

History[edit]
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Domestic telecommunications facilities in Hong Kong became more advanced in 1925 when the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC) took
over the interests of John Pender's China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company. The company's mandate included providing all the British
colonies with local telephone services. Over the next six decades, Hong Kong Telephone's line capacity grew to more than 2.5 million, with the
company serving approximately six million people.[10]

Telecommunications became increasingly important following World War I, and in 1929 the British companies Marconi Wireless and Eastern Telegraph
joined to establish Cable & Wireless. The company's strategy was to supply telephone and telegraph services in Britain's colonies, and it succeeded in
securing an exclusive franchise to provide international communications services in Hong Kong.[10]

By 1972, the company's biggest operation was its subsidiary in rapidly growing Hong Kong. Hong Kong Telephone, meanwhile, built a new
headquarters in 1972. The company's growth was said to typify the colony's transition from an economy based on manufacturing to one dependent on
service industries, which created a demand for telecommunications services. In 1975 Hong Kong Telephone's franchise for domestic service in the
colony was extended for an additional 20 years, to expire just ahead of Hong Kong's reversion to China's control in 1997.[10]

Chronology[edit]
Hong Kong Telephone Company[edit]

 1906: China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company acquired a 25-year franchised licence on fixed-line.[11]
 1925: China and Japan Telephone and Electric Company was acquired[12] by Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited (HKTC). The government
also granted HKTC a 50 years franchised licence on telephone service.[13][14]
 1968: HKTC's franchise was extended for another 20 years.[14]
 1983: HKTC started to build their own mobile radiotelephone service, which was supplied and installed by NEC;[15] in the next year the service
went public under HKTC's subsidiary Communication Services Limited[14]
Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong)[edit]

The Eastern Telegraph Company network in 1901,

on the right was the Asia-Pacific network of the company

 1871: The predecessor of Cable & W