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90,000 Is A Magic Number For 3
February 27, 2003 - source: BWCS
Berthold Thoma, the head man at 3 in Austria, said yesterday that
he expects to gather at least 90,000 3G customers by the end of
this year. The Hutchison Whampoa-backed company is due to launch
its next generation mobile service in Vienna and other Austrian
cities later this year.
Thoma, who made the disclosure during a long interview with the
national Der Standard newspaper, said his company will target the
highest spending 17% of the Austrian population within its coverage
zone. At launch, which Thoma would give no definite date for, the
3G network will cover only about 35% of the Austrian population.
A roaming agreement with mobilkom Austria will enable 3 to launch
services ahead of its UMTS network going live. Mobilkom is the largest
Austrian mobile player with some 2.94 million customers. During
the interview, the CEO of 3 described his company as “A new mobile
medium which converges telecommunications and internet,” as opposed
to just another operator. He also made it clear that 3 would not
subsidise the new UMTS handsets; this will mean that each phone
will cost between €800 and €1,000.
3’s parent company is apparently prepared to pour some €1.2 billion
into its Austrian operation. Of this figure, Thoma claimed, only
25% was already spent, with a further 25% to be spent this year.
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3G Motorola A920
