appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Sunday Communications has become the first mobile operator in Hong Kong to pledge its third-generation (3G) licence to creditors.

Hong Kong's smallest mobile operator yesterday announced it had made some amendments to loans from Nortel Networks and United Overseas Bank (UOB), including the pledging of its 3G licence.

It needed approval from industry regulator the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta) to assign the licence.

An Ofta spokesman confirmed yesterday it had received Sunday's submission to transfer the licence, which it was considering.

Pledging the 3G licence gives more security to the two lenders, which have about HK$1.5 billion of exposure to Sunday.

However, a Sunday spokeswoman said whether it secured Ofta's approval would have no effect on the loans.

'We did not just pledge the 3G licence, which is only a part of our company assets, for project finance. We pledged our company assets as a whole,' she said.

Sunday had also pledged its new joint venture Shell Mobile and other assets to creditors to reflect changes in the company's development.

In 2000, Sunday obtained a HK$600 million loan facility from UOB, and a long-term loan facility of US$155 million from Nortel. According to the annual report, it had outstanding loans of HK$576 million, and a vendor loan facility of US$117 million.

European operators, including Hutchison Whampoa, spent billions of dollars acquiring 3G licences in countries such as Britain, Germany and Italy, hoping their 3G businesses would be cash-generating assets.

However, they are now burdened with debts and plagued with investor doubts over the commercial viability of the technology.

In Hong Kong, four operators, including Sunday, won 3G licences. They must hand 5 per cent of their revenues to the SAR government in the 15 years after launch. The licences were valued at HK$1.3 billion each.



Sunday offers 3G licence to creditors