Hong Kong 2006 - Communications, the Media and Information Technology

Established in 1841, Hongkong Post enjoys a proud heritage and an excellent record of providing a reliable and affordable postal service to the community. Today, Hongkong Post handles 3.6 million pieces of mail items each day and plays an important role in facilitating Hong Kong's trade and commerce.

Since operating as a trading fund in 1995, Hongkong Post has improved its service in terms of both quality and product range. In the 2006 Consumer Satisfaction Index conducted by the City University of Hong Kong, postal services came first among 68 major local goods and services surveyed, an indication that consumer satisfaction has reached an all time high. Independent public perception surveys also ranked Hongkong Post as one of the city's top three service organisations eight years in a row.

In 2006, Hongkong Post handled approximately 1.3 billion pieces of mail items, serving 2.8 million residential and business addresses. This represents an increase of 4 per cent over the 2005 mail volume. Local mail contributed 87 per cent to the total mail handled.

Speedpost, the international courier service of Hongkong Post, was awarded the Gold Level Certification for the fifth year in a row, the highest recognition given in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Express Mail Service Cooperative's Audit and Measurement Programme.

As always, Hongkong Post's beautifully designed stamps proved to be collector's items. The 'Fireworks' collection, the pioneering showcase of crystal fabric technology, was jointly issued with Austrian Post. Besides, the China Post, Hongkong Post and Macao Post also jointly adopted 'Charming Chinese Lanterns' as the theme of one of their stamps. Themes of other stamps depicted the Year of the Dog, children's stories such as Dress Bear Up and Chinese idioms, and city topics such as Hong Kong's 18 Districts and Government Transport. Commemorative themes included the International Day of Peace, the 140th Birth Anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen and the prepaid postcards for the hosting of the ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 in Hong Kong.

The creative 'Heart-warming Stamps Customised Service' enabled customers to use their own photographs on stamps, adding a unique touch to their correspondence. Due to its popularity, a new set was issued in November.

On December 31, Hongkong Post issued the third set of Hong Kong Definitive Stamps since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, portraying a wide spectrum of birds that inhabit the city.

The seventh Inter-School Stamp Exhibits Competition was co-organised in April with the Education and Manpower Bureau and supported by the Zhejiang Philately Association and Guangdong Philately Association to promote philately among young collectors.

The service 'Stamp OnNet' was further extended to enable overseas customers to access the mail order service online and manage their accounts for philatelic products anytime, anywhere.

To foster the growth of e-commerce in the region, Hongkong Post joined hands with major online portals to conduct regular seminars for local businesses.

The Hongkong Post Certification Authority helped to facilitate electronic commerce by embedding over 1.5 million e-certificates in smart ID cards as a secure platform for e-transactions.

Through its extensive and reliable delivery and retail network, Hongkong Post achieved the world's highest success rate of 99.8 per cent for next-day territory-wide delivery of local letters, beating the 98 per cent target set in its performance pledge.

The Hong Kong and Mainland's One-Stop Gift Fulfilment Service with China Post allows customers in Hong Kong to send a range of over 20 seasonal gift sets including bouquets and cakes to over 2 000 cities on the Mainland. Lunar New Year gift sets and special mooncake gift sets were also introduced in January and September respectively.

The convenient PayThruPost service continued to provide one-stop bill payment for all government, public utilities and telecommunication bills.

Hongkong Post hosted the Direct Mail Symposium 2006 in June, with renowned speakers and over 200 participants from Asia-Pacific to foster a discussion on raising standards of direct mail marketing in Hong Kong.

To help merchants in Hong Kong expand business to overseas markets through the Internet, Hongkong Post extended its existing value-added tax (VAT) prepayment service for mail sent to the United Kingdom to cover also those sent to other European Union member countries. After receiving orders online, merchants can mail the ordered goods with the VAT prepaid in Hong Kong. This value-added service saves overseas buyers the hassle of paying the VAT at the point of receipt, making the services of Hong Kong merchants more user friendly.

To care for the underprivileged, Hongkong Post has set aside a portion of the its revenue from the 'Heart-warming Stamps Customised Service' for donation to charitable organisations helping needy children at Christmas and the elderly at Chinese New Year.

The 35th International Letter Writing Competition organised by Hongkong Post in March to promote students' interest in letter-writing attracted 9 000 entries.

Echoing Hongkong Post's mission of 'Linking people', the 'Love and Care Day' was organised again in September to encourage people to send one local letter free of postage to convey personal caring messages.

Hongkong Post participated in various regional and international meetings in pursuit of performance excellence, partnership and product development within the postal community organised by the UPU and the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU). Representing China, Hongkong Post co-chaired the four meetings of the UPU Terminal Dues Project Group, and served as a board member of the UPU Express Mail Service Cooperative and the Asia Pacific Post Cooperative.

In September, a workshop of APPU Working Group on Terminal Dues was organised in Hong Kong. Co-chaired by New Zealand Post and Hongkong Post, it helped APPU members understand the design of the future Terminal Dues System.