Hutchison set to show off 3G phones

Hutchison 3G, the mobile telecom group controlled by Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, plans to open three UK flagship stores next month for the first viewing of new-generation phones.

Picture shows NEC phone of the type being trialed.

Hutchison 3G, a Whampoa joint venture with Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Dutch firm KPN Telecom, is putting the final touches to two high-tech shops in London and one in Birmingham, where customers will be able to test and buy some of Europe's first high-speed data phones.

"There should be an official opening next month," a London-based spokesman said, adding that the new phones might be too complex to sell just over the counter.

"Consumers will be given an opportunity to try as well as buy. You can't expect them to get it straight away," he said.

Hutchison 3G has been making trials of an initial batch of around 1,000 third-generation (3G) phones, which are manufactured by Japan's NEC Corp and Motorola of the United States and has said the response of its so-called friendly customers had been "fairly positive" so far.

But the group, which is hoping for a commercial launch under the "3" brand before year-end, declined to show reporters its phones. Spokesmen argued the phones were being tweaked and would be kept under wraps until they were ready for closer inspection.

"We hope to have paying customers by the end of the year. That's the aim. But this service won't go into shops unless it's 100 percent right," one spokesman said. "The entire business is focused like a laser beam on getting it right from the start."

Hutchison 3G, which is building start-up businesses in nine countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, plans to have 10,000 3G phones in circulation in Britain and Italy by early November and 100,000 by the end of the year.

Amid market scepticism about the viability of costly 3G services, Hutchison rivals Orange and Vodafone unveiled slower new mobile data phones this week in an effort to prove to consumers that services such as pictures and video over mobiles are viable, fun and worth paying for.

But Hutchison 3G remains unfazed.

"These (Orange and Vodafone phones) are working on an interim technology. In crude and simple terms, it's like comparing broadband with dial-up," a spokesman said.

Marketing over the year will be more by stealth, building next year in step with a phased commercial rollout of the service, Hutchison said.

Hutchison 3G is starting services in Britain and Italy, followed by Sweden, Hong Kong, Australia, Austria, Israel, Denmark and Ireland in 2003.

Vodafone has also said it expects to trial 3G services this year and is aiming for a commercial launch after next April.