CSL shift call centre to China to ease 3G roll out

February 27, 2005

Hong Kong's CSL will move its call centre to Guangdong in China by the middle of this year in the attempt to cut staff costs by 30%. The company would shift its customer relations management operations to PCCW's call centre in Guangzhou. CSL was a subsidiary of PCCW from 2000 to 2002.

"Moving our call centre to Guangzhou is just one way to relieve cost pressures associated with the roll-out of our 3G services," said Eva Lam, a director of finance for CSL.

Chief executive Hubert Ng Ching-wah said capital expenditure on its 3G network would peak in the year from July. Expenditure for the next financial year would be HK$800 million, an increase of HK$200 million. (£1 = HK$14.9)

Ng said the outlook for 3G is improving and expected cash flow to break even "after two or three years".

CSL has signed up about 2,000 3G customers since launching the service in December. He said the company would be more aggressive in promoting its 3G service this year.

"Our strategy is to migrate the existing 2G subscribers to use 3G service and not engage in a price war to win over customers," Ng said.

Data revenue has risen to 20% of its average revenue per user (ARPU), from less than 10% before the launch of 3G. Its ARPU stood at $340 a month at end of last year, the highest in the market.

CSL added 30% more subscribers last year, making it the second-largest Hong Kong. It added 300,000 new subscribers last year to reach a total of 1.3 million, compared with Hutchison Telecom's two million subscribers.

The new subscribers were thought to be mostly from customers on service providers using CSL's network, known as mobile virtual network operators.