Hutchison Whampoa opens its first third-generation (3G) store in Milan, Italy, today before kicking off a commercial launch next year.
The Li Ka-shing company, which owns a 88.2 per cent stake in H3G Italy, will have 1,200 retail outlets ready all over Italy in the next few days.
Hutchison also secured 1,000 distribution outlets in Britain after signing up 325 outlets with dealer phone4u and 470 outlets with Carphone Warehouse.
Hutchison said it would make available another 300 outlets from its controlled health and beauty shops such as Savers and Superdrug in Britain in the next 12 months.
The expansion in Hutchison's distribution network for its '3' service - the brand name for the Hutchison Whampoa 3G service - would soon move the new 3G operator in Britain and Italy from the trial phase to launch.
'We will start commercial service in Italy next year,' said a Hutchison spokesman.
