P-Plus Communications, the fourth of Hong Kong's six personal communication service (PCS) mobile phone providers, launched its service yesterday with a target of 50,000 customers within nine months.
The company will charge a monthly fee of $168 for 100 minutes free airtime, making it one of the cheapest mobile deals in Hong Kong.
Chief executive But Ho Ming said P-Plus had spent about $600 million to $700 million building its network so far with another $600 million to come in the next year.
He said the company needed improved coverage before it would go for a full commercial launch of its services, probably in September or October.
'So far we have 130-140 base stations. We will not charge customers until we have at least 180 stations which should be some time in August,' he said.
The company needs about 170,000 subscribers to break even operationally.
Mr But was confident the rapidly increasing use of mobile phones seen over the last year would be sustained.