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Hutchison Whampoa has failed in an attempt to dispose of its second-generation (2G) mobile telecommunications business in Australia.
 The desire to be rid of the asset is consistent with the company's strategy of shedding exposure to older networks as it builds up its third-generation (3G) business amid mounting losses.
Hutchison Telecommunications Australia revealed it had terminated discussions with  Telstra, Australia's largest operator, about selling its existing CDMA business after the two firms failed to agree to a deal. 

'Hutchison remains open to discussions with mobile carriers on 3G network co-operation for the rational deployment and utilisation of WCDMA infrastructure,'  the company had said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange in  response to a  press report that claimed Telstra, the only other CDMA operator in Australia, would pay A$250 million (HK$1.43 billion) to acquire its existing business in the country.
 News of the attempt to sell its struggling Australian 2G business  comes just a month after Hutchison announced plans to spin off its non-3G businesses in Hong Kong and  elsewhere in a deal analysts  valued at between US$1 billion and $2 billion.
 Hutchison, which  operates 3G networks in seven countries, is expected to suffer more losses this year after burning  HK$18 billion on   new technology in 2003.

Analysts said it made sense for Hutchison to dispose of its Australian 2G business and complete the switch to 3G.
'They are doing the same exercise globally. They want to cash in  legacy networks,' ING analyst Cusson Leung said.
Sydney-based Hutchison Telecommunications Australia, which lost A$409.8 million last year, has 440,000 subscribers, of which 325,000 are  2G users. The firm says it is adding 5,000  customers a week to its 3 service  and has committed about  $1.6 billion  of its $3 billion budget to  its 3G network.
'The sell-out proposal makes perfect sense. Unfortunately they could not agree on price,' said CSFB analyst Edison Lee, who noted that Hutchison remained a distant  third in the market behind Telstra and SingTel's Optus.



Hutchison fails to sell Australian 2G unit