Due to the US national security and the worry of American user information theft by China, the US Department of Justice advised the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to abandon a plan of building trans-Pacific undersea cable to Hong Kong by Google and Facebook. The advice was on 17th June this year, and it also advised to connect to Taiwan and the Philippines. According to Bloomberg News, Google and Facebook decided to dump Hong Kong and act accordingly.1 There are totally 380 undersea light cable responsible for 99.5% of global international transmission. Underseas cable is very important infrastructure, and the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) invested by these two tech giants and the others is capable of transmission at 120Tb/s. It will be the highest in the world upon completion.
After China implements the national security law in Hong Kong, the US has cancelled Hong Kong special status and sanctioned against Hong Kong officials. Now, Google and Facebook dumped Hong Kong to connect the fastest network to Taiwan and the Philippines. It shows that Hong Kong is paying a higher and higher cost in the new cold war.
Global BPO leader – Philippines
The image of the Philippines for some of us may be still about domestic helpers. Certainly, labour export is still the largest foreign remittance income for the Filipinos today, but fast-growing business process outsourcing (BPO) service is already the second largest now. The Philippines surpassed India as the largest BPO country in the world.2 BPO services include backoffice support, information technology, call centre and software development etc. Developed countries outsource non-core business process to other region in order to reduce operation cost, which is a result of globalization. The BPO industry of the Philippines grows fast with its excellent English and the familiarity of western culture. It is expected that the BPO industry will bring 55 billion USD income and 1.5 million jobs to the country this year.
Not only strong foreign income, the BPO services also help Filipinos transform from labour earning to a knowledge economy. Finally, it creates a new middle class.
BUD Fund FTA Programme to the Filipino market
China influences Hong Kong politics and economics significantly, and we should consider the risk of mono-demand even it is a huge potential market. For example, Macau GDP shrinks 68% in 2020Q2 and we can see the problem of mono-product and mono-market. Therefore, the BUD Fund launched “ASEAN Programme” in 2018 to encourage Hong Kong companies to explore the ASEAN market. The Philippines is incidentally a connection hub to the PLCN. It will definitely strengthen its role as the BPO global leader. The BUD Fund FTA Programme grants 50% of the cost to invest in the Philippines (cumulative maximum: HK$ 4 million). Contact BizMagnet to know more about BUD Fund consultation service to catch the business opportunity in the PH.
- (2020) Google, Facebook Dump Plans for U.S.-Hong Kong Undersea Cable, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-29/google-facebook-dump-hong-kong-cable-after-u-s-security-alarm
- (2020) Business Process Outsourcing in the Philippines, Sourcefit, https://www.sourcefit.com/outsourcing-blog/business-process-outsourcing-philippines/
