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Expect your 3 handsets this week
March 13, 2003
Consumers in Italy and UK will be the first European users to use
the fast speed and much long awaited 3G service this weekend. Huchison
Whampoa managing director Canning Fok said 3, the brand name for
Hutchison 3G service, will start delivering 3G handsets to pre-ordered
customers in Italy by the end of this week and UK pre-ordered customers
are expected to get their handsets this Saturday.
3 is already expecting supply problems this weekend. "It's not
enough to fulfill all the pre-orders immediately", a 3 UK spokesman
said.
On 3rd March 2003, consumers were able to pre-register for the
3G service offered by 3 but was told they would not receive their
handsets until the end of March.
Hutchison 3G, controlled by Hutchison Whampoa, said more than 700,000
handsets from NEC and Motorola will be available by May. The group
had planned to launch the service in the 4th quarter of 2002 but
due to teething technical glitches the rollout date was delayed.
Although the service plans on offered by 3 were of great value
compared with other 2G operators, just over 200,000 people have
shown interest in the service and of those, only 70,000 were committed
in buying a 3G phone. Hutchison had hope for 1 million customers
in the UK by the end of the year, but are likely to lower their
predicted sales target, said city analysts. Pre-order figures indicates
that the Italians showed more fascination with the new technology
than the British. The NEC e606 handset (£399) with the KitOn3 (£59.99/month)
service plan was the most popular choice in the UK.
The group plans to offer services in Hong Kong by mid-June 2003
and has also targeted rollouts in Australia, Israel, Sweden, Denmark,
Ireland and Austria.
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3G Motorola A920
