Hutchison cut 3G phone price by half in Hong Kong

March 26, 2004

Hutchison Whampoa will halve the price of the NEC 616 handset for its 3G business in Hong Kong. The company is also aiming to double the sign-up rate to its 3G service globally, which currently stands at 10,000 customers a day.

The NEC c616 model will retail at HK$1,980 in the region starting from Saturday. It had cost as much as $4,380 when Hutchison began 3G service in Hong Kong at the end of January or HK$3,980 each for purchasing two or more handsets.

Hutchison is currently signing up over 1,000 3G customers in Hong Kong, more than it is enlisting at its 2G mobile network. Analysts are concerned the heavy handset subsidies could hurt the company in the long run.

Meanwhile, the OFTA's plans to auction bandwidth for a CDMA2000 network have met fierce opposition. The bandwidth will be at the expensive of CDMA and TDMA services currently operated by Hutchison Telecom and CSL respectively. Other carriers fear the introduction of a seventh operator would worsen the already competitive mobile market in Hong Kong.

The OFTA said it won't renew CDMA and TDMA licenses because the spectrum occupied by both is under-utilised. CSL chief executive Hubert Ng says any move by the OFTA to take back its licence might be illegal.