Boosted by a huge one-off gain, Hutchison Whampoa reported another solid set of profits, but all attention was focused on subscriber growth at its loss-making third-generation (3G) phone service.
The fortunes of Li Ka-shing's diversified conglomerate increasingly hang on its ability to sell its '3' phones.
In the event, expectations of an upswing in subscribers to 3.2 million were met. The question is whether each new subscriber is taking Hutchison closer to break-even or deeper into the red.
Buoyed by competitive new handsets, subscriber numbers across its European, Asian and Australian markets are growing at a healthy clip of 700,000 a month. Spending among customers is holding up and a new-found appetite for disclosing detailed operating data reveals that customer acquisition costs are falling.
In its largest subscriber market, Italy, it now takes just five months worth of revenue - or ?250 (HK$2,406) - to cover the cost of acquiring a new customer. That metric had stood at about six months for most of this year.
Subscribers of course, are still just one part of the puzzle, with investors needing evidence that new users will ultimately be profitable users. Revenue from data services, supposedly 3G's core proposition, remain disappointing. In Italy, data applications contributed just 10 per cent of overall revenue, a figure similar to that of 2G operators, suggesting 3's edge remains as a cut-price voice service.