International direct dialing quality in a competitive transitional telecommunications market

The introduction of resale-based competition in international direct dialing services in January 1999 triggered a round of extremely fierce competition in Hong Kong's IDD market. In response, both the incumbent operator and new entrants had to adopt aggressive strategies to defend or gain market share. This article reports on an intensive experiment on IDD quality provided by the major IDD operators in Hong Kong after this phase of deregulation. Based on 1790 successful IDD calls to the 10 most popular destinations from Hong Kong, the IDD quality of the major operators was benchmarked. The experiment revealed some interesting findings with significant implications for telecommunications deregulation.