Two more mobile-phone operators launched third-generation services yesterday - but only for customers who had already ordered handsets.
Anyone going into a CSL or SmarTone shop hoping to sign up on the first day of service was asked to put down a deposit on handsets - for delivery after Christmas.
It wasn't just the unavailability of the phones. Mobile phone users at outlets of the two carriers, and of Hutchison's 3, in Central said the 3G handsets they offered were still expensive and their multimedia content not attractive enough.
CSL is offering the latest Nokia model, the 6630, while competitor Hutchison's long-established 3 has the Motorola E100. SmarTone is selling both models. But none had any phones in stock yesterday.
Office worker Rebecca Wong Ngan-yuk, a subscriber of CSL One2Free's 2G service, said she still could not get used to the idea of 3G.
'I prefer sitting in front of my laptop computer to access information,' she said. 'To me, a mobile phone is a device to send out information via voice instead of visuals. Plus 3G phones are still very bulky.'
