Wharf T&T unveils a new era of growth

It was Cole Porter who wrote the classic song “Anything Goes” whose famous opening lyrics “times have changed” captured the essence of a time gone by and the frivolity of modern living. However, in today’s fast paced modern world, things move rapidly, and so it takes a forward thinking innovative company to maintain their success.

So, it seems, some things do stay the same. As is the case for Wharf T&T, who continues to lead the way in telecommunications after over 20 years whilst being a leading ICT service provider, Wharf T&T strictly focuses on enabling customers’ businesses using best-of-breed technologies through top-class service.

Backed by the state-of-the-art “Fibre-to-the-Desk” (FTTD) ultra-high speed broadband network, Wharf T&T possesses strong system integration capabilities and offers a full suite of subscription-based public cloud solutions to cope with the evolving business demand of ICT adoption. We like having the security that comes with knowing a company has succeeded for so long, and Wharf T&T has been a trusted partner for business customers providing a rich ICT service portfolio for decades. Their services range from data connectivity, high speed internet access, IP-based voice telephony, public cloud services, to complex mission-critical system integration solutions to over 53,000 enterprises in Hong Kong — and it doesn’t look like they’re slowing down.

However, change is inevitable, and with the recent acquisition of Wharf T&T by MBK Partners and TPG, Wharf T&T continues to build on their current success while entering a new era.

MBK Partners and TPG announced the completion of the Wharf T&T Limited acquisition on 10 November 2016, a transaction worth $HK9.5b. MBK Partners and TPG have a long and reputable track record of investing in world-class companies such as Spotify, Uber, Gala TV, and Universal Studios Japan. With this new era of growth, the ever evolving Wharf T&T continues to build on their track record of excellence and innovation to bring even more products and services to their customers.

The CEO of Wharf T&T, Vincent Ma, stated at the recent press conference held in Central, Hong Kong, on 10 November 2016, “Wharf T&T experienced a challenging 20th anniversary as business customers were prudent on new ICT investments in a slowing economy. Undeterred by a stagnant market, Wharf T&T continued to make strides in its core business compared to a year ago, and reported its best half-year results ever, attributable to double-digit year-on-year growth in the local data and business broadband businesses. Backed by its proven credentials to be a trusted service provider to address mission critical needs, Wharf T&T continued to achieve significant results.”

With many awards under their belts, their list of services are impressive to say the least. While Wharf T&T provides not only non-network infrastructure based business internet services, they also enhance their business customers’ experience with the offer of real cloud applications and ICT services. Those innovations have won them two laureates at the 16th Capital Outstanding Enterprise Awards, being named the Outstanding Fibre Business Broadband Service Provider and the Outstanding Cloud Service Provider.

Apart from the “2015/16 Family-Friendly Employers Award,” Wharf T&T was also proud to attain the Low-Carbon Office Operation Program (LOOP) Platinum Label, which is the highest rank of the labelling scheme initiated by WWF-Hong Kong to recognise the efforts and contribution of companies in implementing green initiatives to combat climate change and reduce operation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Forward thinking
As a dynamic forerunner in the telecommunications industry, the forward thinking Wharf T&T has a full range of ICT services available. They offer a rich ICT service portfolio ranging from fibre-based high-speed business broadband, sophisticated local and international data networking, advanced IP-based voice telephony, best-of-breed public cloud services, and complex mission-critical systems integration solutions that aim at enabling the businesses of its customers.

With 90% and over 5,200 office buildings in Hong Kong being covered by Wharf T&T’s broadband network, it is little surprise that their figures have been so impressive. The 2016 interim results of Wharf T&T has its total turnover increased to HK$1,005 million, and core fixed line revenue posting a robust 9% growth to HK$724 million. Wharf T&T’s EBITDA increased by 10% to HK$415 million, with margin improving to 41%. Operating profit increased by 24% to HK$214 million. Free cash flow increased by 7% to HK$237 million.

Ma said, “Wharf T&T benefits immensely from the visions and inspiration of the new owners, bringing further momentum to the companies’ growth. The extensive network of strategic alliance of MBK Partners and TPG also presents Wharf T&T with an abundance of innovative product and service opportunities. Wharf T&T is well positioned to build on our current success and excel in our next phase of growth and development.”

Ma also assured, “The team is committed to working closely together to build an even better company that our employees, customers, and partners will all be proud of. We are very confident that, with the support of MPK partners and TPG, the best is yet to come.” Wharf T&T continues to build on their success while providing a superb infrastructure and user-friendly and feature-rich customer portal. Wharf T&T is proud to cater to all enterprises’ needs, while redefining business-grade public cloud standards.