Hong Kong has taken out the inaugural award for the "Best Broadband Community" in BroadBand Communities' survey of 28 cities in Asia Pacific. In a tight contest it edged out Singapore, with Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul making up the top-five.

The survey is the first of its kind in the region and aims to highlight the fact that in many cases cities, rather than countries, are competing against each other and that superior broadband infrastructure can be critical to economic success.  

The judges, a combined team from Broadband Communities and CommsDay, noted that Hong Kong came out on top because of the breadth of its access competition and sustainable liberalisation policies.

One of the distinguishing features of the Hong Kong broadband landscape is not only the competition among access providers, but the range of competing technologies that are available to consumers. There is robust competition between fixed network and cable operators, while mobile operators are all moving to the latest 3G data services such as HSDPA.

Key to that competitive environment is forward-thinking regulatory policies. For example, Hong Kong is one of the few cities where service providers are free to adopt the technology that best meets market demands, while all sectors have been liberalised and there are no foreign ownership restrictions.

Grahame Lynch, publisher of Broadband Communities and managing director of CommsDay's publishing parent Decisive, said the city rankings were a needed resource at a time when broadband infrastructure is critical to economies in the region.

"We were inspired to launch the Broadband Community Awards after observing that normal broadband penetration rankings say little about the whole ecosystem of communications, particularly in cities," Lynch commented.

The rankings were compiled using a blend of quantitative and qualitative data: This included:

* No of wi fi hotspots within 5miles of city centre
* Presence of HSDPA/EVDO networks
* Mobile penetration
* Programmes to promote school Internet use
* E-government
* Subsidised wireless or wired broadband
* Internet penetration
* Competitive 3G services
* WiMax licensing
* Presence of creative and technical industries that make use of broadband use
* Sustainable liberalisation policy
* Censorship
* Use of English as a mainstream Internet/social language for its ability to exploit globalisation
* Presence of very high speed broadband (VDSL, FTTH)

Each city was awarded a mark for each category, and where there were ties the judging panel then parsed down the data to find points of difference.

The judges also commended Singapore, which has a number of initiatives around grid infrastructure and a proposed nationwide fibre optic backbone that should see it continue to do well in future surveys.

Meanwhile, cities that tended to be in the lower half of the table also had a number of similarities. For example, they tended to have restrictive regulatory environments and minimal competition, while censorship was also a problem in many, notably Bangkok and cities in China and Vietnam.

The complete rankings is as follows:

1                      Hong Kong
2                      Singapore
3                      Taipei
4                      Tokyo
5                      Seoul
6 (equal)           Osaka, Busan
8                      Melbourne
9                      Sydney
10                    Auckland
11                    Kuala Lumpur
12                    Macau
13                    Penang
14 (equal)         Bangkok, Beijing, Shenzhen
17 (equal)         Shanghai, Guangzhou
19                    Manila
20 (equal)         Brunei, Bangalore
22 (equal)         Delhi, Mumbai, Jakarta, Saigon, Hanoi
27                    Phnom Penh
28                    Vientiane