Hutchison secures $1.75b loan facility for Australia mobile-phone network

Hutchison Whampoa has completed a A$340 million (about HK$1.75 billion) loan facility to finance construction of a mobile-communications network in Australia through its 77.5 per cent-owned Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia).

'This is the first time in Australia that a wireless telephony project has been funded by project financing,' Hutchison Whampoa group finance director Frank Sixt said.

The facility will provide funding for the construction and operation of Hutchison's code division multiple access (CDMA) network in Sydney and Melbourne.

Its CDMA service will be launched commercially in the first half of next year.

The facility consists of a A$335 million, 7.5-year project financing, lead-arranged by Citibank and Westdeutsche Landesbank, and a A$5 million working-capital facility provided by Citibank.

The Australian subsidiary's managing director, Barry Roberts-Thomson, said: 'Hutchison plans to market a multi-purpose mobile phone which makes local calls charged at normal local call rates as well as mobile calls, depending on the customer's location.