No Prepay 3 Phones in Christmas Stockings

November 26, 2003 - source: BWCS

UK 3G operator 3 will not have prepaid phones in the shops in time for Christmas, according to a report in yesterday’s Times. The operator, which has recently admitted that it no longer expects to meet its original target of 1 million subscribers by the end of the year, is now forced to go back on its promise to launch a prepay service in early December.

The problem, as ever, lies with the handset suppliers. Japanese vendor NEC says it will be late delivering its latest mass market handset, the clamshell e616, because of technical glitches. This is bad news for 3 and means the company will miss out on the crucial run-up to Christmas, which accounts for a third of total annual mobile phone sales in the UK. Moreover, 70 percent of all mobile handsets sold during the Christmas period are prepay, according to the Times.

While no official figures have been published since August, Hutchison-owned 3 is believed to have signed up around 220,000 UK customers to date. The company said it now expects to launch its prepay service in the first quarter of 2004.

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1.	NEC e606 on 3
2.	Orange Nokia 7250i
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4.	NEC e808 on 3
5.	Motorola A920 on 3

last updated: January 12, 2004

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No Prepay 3 Phones in Christmas Stockings

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