Li positive on 3G despite newcomers

November 24, 2004

Hutchison Whampoa Chairman Li Ka-shing remains optimistic about its 3G mobile business despite the introduction of the high-speed network from rivals in Hong Kong over the next few months.

SmarTone announced earlier this month that it would launch 3G services in December and aims to move all its 1 million GSM subscribers to the service by initially targeting customers who want to use the service. Sunday is planning to launch its service early next year when demand for multimedia experiences grows as the number of available 3G handsets increases.

Li said its 3G business is on track and is hopeful of reaching Ebitda breakeven next year, reported The Standard in Hong Kong.

"We are seeing good results for our 3G business," Li added.

The comments follow recent reports that Hutchison Telecommunications International has lowered salaries and sacked workers to cut costs on its loss-making 3G operations.

The company is also said to have outsourced its network maintenance operations to Japan's NEC in a bid to lower operating costs.

Meanwhile, Peoples Telephone is in talks with all four 3G licence holders in its attempt to become Hong Kong's first mobile virtual network operator providing the high-speed mobile phone service.

The company is keen to build upon its EDGE service, which was the main growth driver for Peoples over the past several months.

"Users are more willing to use the data service than before and we are now under formal negotiating with some of the 3G operators, including Hutchison Telecom," Executive vice-chairman Michael Leung said.