Hutchison Whampoa, with an apparently undiminished enthusiasm for third generation (3G) mobile-phone services, bought two mobile licences last week and sealed deals with equipment suppliers. The Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which holds six 3G licences in Europe, announced yesterday it had selected Canadian Nortel Networks and Lattice Group's 186k to provide a fibre-optic network for its 3G operations in Britain. It also named Nasdaq-listed E.piphany as a provider of customer-relationship management software and ADC, also Nasdaq listed, as billing service provider to Hutchison's British operation. The deals sent a strong signal that the company is moving ahead with its network roll-out plans despite adverse market conditions. 'For Hutchison, it is business as usual. They are moving and they are still very positive about 3G,' said Niklas Olausson, analyst of Indosuez WI Carr. Last week, Hutchison won one of four Danish 3G licences on offer, via Hi3G Access, a 60-40 joint venture with Swedish group Investos, which also won a Sweden licence, for 950 million Danish crowns (about HK$913 million). That followed an award of the Hong Kong 3G licence to Hutchison Telecom, a 75-25 joint venture with NTT DoCoMo. Hutchison Telecom has pledged a HK$50 million flat royalty fee for the first five years and a 5 per cent sharing of its 3G network in the subsequent 10 years, for a nominal value of at least HK$1.3 billion. But capturing two 3G licences did not help to ease doubt over whether Hutchison could turn into a successful 3G venture, measured by the performance of its share price. Hutchison Whampoa closed on Friday at HK$50.75, a 30-month low. While most brokerages would not downgrade their investment ratings for Hutchison at this level, some highlighted the risk involved with increasing exposure in Scandinavia. For instance, Merrill Lynch analyst Christine Leung wrote last Friday in her notes to clients: 'In our view, given current market cynicism towards Hutch's 3G investments as a new entrant, securing more 3G licences (Norway and Ireland being explored) may hurt rather than enhance sentiment although these licences should be relatively small.' Estimating its network capital expenditure at up to US$870 million in Denmark, Ms Leung said it would make better sense if Hutchison could negotiate with Telenor, the only losing incumbent in Denmark but one which also owned a Norwegian licence, to form a joint venture to reduce its roll-out costs in the Nordic regions. Mr Olausson, who said he might revise down his target price of HK$83 for Hutchison shares following the US terrorist bombings, said the firm was building a real business, but might remain 'under-appreciated' by investors. 'There are still concerns, as you can tell from its share price. But the last HK$10 drop was really driven by the global corrections,' Mr Olausson said.