krug3r
10-08-2003, 14:32
[SOURCE SCOTSMAN]
GLAMOROUS hostesses dressed in white and clutching mobile phones greet visitors to a smart silver trailer parked in central Edinburgh.
A white-painted interior, with a video screen at one end and moulded seats down either side, gives the appearance of a fuselage that would not look out of place in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is no film set, but the latest attempt by Hutchison, the UK’s only operator of 3G mobile phone services, to drum up interest in its always-on, high speed internet video phone handsets.
The trailer will be in Edinburgh for two more weeks before going to a new destination to educate the public about the next generation of mobile phones.
The company, part-owned by Hong Kong ports-to-telecoms conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, launched its service under the brand Three in March. It is the first company in Europe to offer commercial 3G video phones but, as the new entrant to the UK mobile phone market, it has had to build its customer base and network from scratch.
The company has spent £1.7bn doing this, on top of the £4.4bn spent acquiring the initial 3G licence in government auctions in 2000.
It will recruit 100 more to work in its Glasgow call centre before the end of the year, in addition to the 240 already in place. Last year the company paid £830m for Kruidvat, the Dutch health and beauty company which owns Superdrug, thereby providing a high street outlet for its phones in Britain.
However, the UK market is dominated by four huge brands - Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and mm02 - and the public has yet to buy the phones in huge numbers.
The man tasked with selling handsets is John Barton, Hutchison’s UK sales director. During a visit to Edinburgh on Friday, he was quick to dismiss industry rumours that Hutchison’s handsets aren’t selling, and that the company’s pricing policy is unsustainable. He said it was all "sour grapes".
"How can the other operators say that we are over subsidising when they also offer discounts? You can’t have your cake and eat it," he said.
Because Hutchison Whampoa reports its half-year figures on August 21, Barton was unable to disclose numbers, but he said sales were "buoyant" and the company was "exceeding its targets".
However, analysts expect Hutchison’s 3G sales to miss their year-end target by about 50%. One said that Hutchison would be lucky if it has won 100,000 UK customers.
This would mean the new network will be unable to meet half the 1m target the firm had set for the end of 2003.
Certainly, Barton doesn’t look like a man under pressure. He said Hutchison had a chance to make its mark in the UK before its rivals get in on the act. Vodafone is expected to launch its 3G services later this year, while Orange, T-Mobile and mm02 will follow suit in 2004.
Barton said he would be pleased when Vodafone launches 3G, as he admits the public doesn’t yet fully understand what 3G can do. "You can only make the market so far. If I was competing with Vodafone, it would drive the market. I would welcome competition."
Barton says the phones can be used for voice calls, as well as for watching video clips, and that Hutchison’s packages offer three times the number of minutes for voice calls than rivals. "We want to be seen to offer great value," he said.
A new range of pricing tariffs will be introduced at the end of the year and Hutchison is in talks with two Scottish football teams to show highlights of their matches on its phones.
At present, more than 2,000 outlets sell Hutchison’s phones. Barton’s plan is to increase that to about 5,000 by the middle of next year. A deal to sell phones through a supermarket chain looks the most likely way to do this, as well as selling phones in more of the 700-strong chain of Superdrug outlets around Britain.
Despite all this, some observers have suggested Hutchison will have to buy or merge with one of its rivals - most probably mm02 - to build its customer base in order to survive.
Hutchison has Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, as its main backer, through his controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa.
GLAMOROUS hostesses dressed in white and clutching mobile phones greet visitors to a smart silver trailer parked in central Edinburgh.
A white-painted interior, with a video screen at one end and moulded seats down either side, gives the appearance of a fuselage that would not look out of place in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is no film set, but the latest attempt by Hutchison, the UK’s only operator of 3G mobile phone services, to drum up interest in its always-on, high speed internet video phone handsets.
The trailer will be in Edinburgh for two more weeks before going to a new destination to educate the public about the next generation of mobile phones.
The company, part-owned by Hong Kong ports-to-telecoms conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, launched its service under the brand Three in March. It is the first company in Europe to offer commercial 3G video phones but, as the new entrant to the UK mobile phone market, it has had to build its customer base and network from scratch.
The company has spent £1.7bn doing this, on top of the £4.4bn spent acquiring the initial 3G licence in government auctions in 2000.
It will recruit 100 more to work in its Glasgow call centre before the end of the year, in addition to the 240 already in place. Last year the company paid £830m for Kruidvat, the Dutch health and beauty company which owns Superdrug, thereby providing a high street outlet for its phones in Britain.
However, the UK market is dominated by four huge brands - Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and mm02 - and the public has yet to buy the phones in huge numbers.
The man tasked with selling handsets is John Barton, Hutchison’s UK sales director. During a visit to Edinburgh on Friday, he was quick to dismiss industry rumours that Hutchison’s handsets aren’t selling, and that the company’s pricing policy is unsustainable. He said it was all "sour grapes".
"How can the other operators say that we are over subsidising when they also offer discounts? You can’t have your cake and eat it," he said.
Because Hutchison Whampoa reports its half-year figures on August 21, Barton was unable to disclose numbers, but he said sales were "buoyant" and the company was "exceeding its targets".
However, analysts expect Hutchison’s 3G sales to miss their year-end target by about 50%. One said that Hutchison would be lucky if it has won 100,000 UK customers.
This would mean the new network will be unable to meet half the 1m target the firm had set for the end of 2003.
Certainly, Barton doesn’t look like a man under pressure. He said Hutchison had a chance to make its mark in the UK before its rivals get in on the act. Vodafone is expected to launch its 3G services later this year, while Orange, T-Mobile and mm02 will follow suit in 2004.
Barton said he would be pleased when Vodafone launches 3G, as he admits the public doesn’t yet fully understand what 3G can do. "You can only make the market so far. If I was competing with Vodafone, it would drive the market. I would welcome competition."
Barton says the phones can be used for voice calls, as well as for watching video clips, and that Hutchison’s packages offer three times the number of minutes for voice calls than rivals. "We want to be seen to offer great value," he said.
A new range of pricing tariffs will be introduced at the end of the year and Hutchison is in talks with two Scottish football teams to show highlights of their matches on its phones.
At present, more than 2,000 outlets sell Hutchison’s phones. Barton’s plan is to increase that to about 5,000 by the middle of next year. A deal to sell phones through a supermarket chain looks the most likely way to do this, as well as selling phones in more of the 700-strong chain of Superdrug outlets around Britain.
Despite all this, some observers have suggested Hutchison will have to buy or merge with one of its rivals - most probably mm02 - to build its customer base in order to survive.
Hutchison has Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, as its main backer, through his controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa.