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Hutchison 3G may delay scheduled launch date
October 29, 2002
There is doubt as to whether Hutchison will launch the UK.'s first
third-generation commercial mobile service by the end of this year,
reported by an UK newspaper.
Hutchison Whampoa, which has a 65% stake in Hutchinson 3G in the
UK, have said it may not reach its goal of having paying customers
for its next generation services in the UK by year end.
"If things go right we will have paying customers, but, and this
is a big but, we have hundreds of little tweaks that need to be
put in place before the product is right," said Matt Peacock, spokesman
for Hutchison.
Hutchison is spending around $16.7 billion on 3G technology in
Europe and Hong Kong. Previously, the firm said it will have paying
customers by end 2002 in UK and Italy. They still expect to have
100,000 3G handsets by the end of the year and aims to have around
1 million customers in the UK by end 2003.
In November the operator will launch three outlets in the UK allowing
users to experience 3G content, services and handsets. There was
some possibility of the outlets, situated in London (2 stores) and
Birmingham, selling handsets when it opens, but it looks unlikely
now.
Factors identified by Merrill Lynch for the success of the launch
of 3G will be attractive handsets with many functionality. Even
though 3G handsets will transmit at a faster data rate and have
more functions, price will play an important part. They feel Hutchison
needs to subsidize handsets to attract more customers.
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3G Motorola A920
