CABLE & WIRELESS’ long relationship with Hong Kong began in Victorian times when in December 1869 John Pender formed the China Submarine Telegraph Company. Its capital was £525,000 and Pender’s aim was to lay a 1,700 mile submarine cable between Singapore and Hong Kong. The link was completed in 1871.
In May of 1873 Pender formed the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company which incorporated China Submarine Telegraph. Other cables followed and Hong Kong became a major station on the system. All the early cables came into Hong Kong at Telegraph Bay, Pokfulam, on Hong Kong Island and were connected by land line to the Eastern Extension office at Marine House on the site occupied by Old Mercury House.
