nokiaman
05-02-2004, 02:08 PM
3 UK, said on Wednesday it might kick-start sluggish subscriber growth by launching a low-cost, pre-pay phone by the end of March.
3 UK, which sold little more than one-fifth of the one million videophones it hoped to sell in 2003, said its target for launching its first pre-pay phone was in the first half, but the launch was more likely to happen in the first quarter.
"We're still looking at some research to understand the market that we want to sell pre-pay into," company spokesman Mark Rigby told reporters on the first of a planned, monthly business update.
"We know it (a launch) is more likely to be in the first quarter, but we're not tying ourselves to the first quarter."
3 UK and its Italian sister 3 Italia, both controlled by the empire of Asia's richest businessman Li Ka-shing, were the first in Europe to sell high-speed, 3G multimedia phones last March. But technical glitches, the initial high handset price, poor customer service and phone shortages marred early sales.
3 UK, which already sells aggressive price packages that undercut some of its established rivals, said it plans to use the e313, a handset manufactured by Japan's NEC for its pre-paid service.
The group said it was also testing a "couple of hundred" of delayed 616 clamshell videophones, which are also manufactured by NEC and which the group had hoped to start selling last year.
"In our minds we are much more confident that this product is in a position where we can launch it," Rigby said, adding the phone was still not automatically switching quickly enough from established 2G networks to 3 UK's high-speed 3G network.
Rigby said it was still too soon to talk about a launch date or price. But he said the company, which was forced by handset shortages to scale back advertising ahead of the Christmas sales period, was preparing a spring marketing campaign.
3 UK also stressed that the number of subscribers seeking help at customer service desks had halved and that phone queries were dealt with on average in four or five minutes -- rather than the 10 to 20 minutes it used to take.
3 UK won only 210,00 customers by the end of last year. But its business is followed closely by established mobile operators, which plan to sell 3G phones later this year. While larger rivals are building 3G networks, they have been slower to establish the service, arguing that the high-tech phones had too many bugs and were not readily
3 UK, which sold little more than one-fifth of the one million videophones it hoped to sell in 2003, said its target for launching its first pre-pay phone was in the first half, but the launch was more likely to happen in the first quarter.
"We're still looking at some research to understand the market that we want to sell pre-pay into," company spokesman Mark Rigby told reporters on the first of a planned, monthly business update.
"We know it (a launch) is more likely to be in the first quarter, but we're not tying ourselves to the first quarter."
3 UK and its Italian sister 3 Italia, both controlled by the empire of Asia's richest businessman Li Ka-shing, were the first in Europe to sell high-speed, 3G multimedia phones last March. But technical glitches, the initial high handset price, poor customer service and phone shortages marred early sales.
3 UK, which already sells aggressive price packages that undercut some of its established rivals, said it plans to use the e313, a handset manufactured by Japan's NEC for its pre-paid service.
The group said it was also testing a "couple of hundred" of delayed 616 clamshell videophones, which are also manufactured by NEC and which the group had hoped to start selling last year.
"In our minds we are much more confident that this product is in a position where we can launch it," Rigby said, adding the phone was still not automatically switching quickly enough from established 2G networks to 3 UK's high-speed 3G network.
Rigby said it was still too soon to talk about a launch date or price. But he said the company, which was forced by handset shortages to scale back advertising ahead of the Christmas sales period, was preparing a spring marketing campaign.
3 UK also stressed that the number of subscribers seeking help at customer service desks had halved and that phone queries were dealt with on average in four or five minutes -- rather than the 10 to 20 minutes it used to take.
3 UK won only 210,00 customers by the end of last year. But its business is followed closely by established mobile operators, which plan to sell 3G phones later this year. While larger rivals are building 3G networks, they have been slower to establish the service, arguing that the high-tech phones had too many bugs and were not readily