bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

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

Georgina Lee

Operator returns to the sector with offers of free six-month trials and 3G handsets

PCCW, which exited the city's margin-crushing mobile-phone market three years ago, rejoined the fray yesterday with a branded 3G service it hopes to start by the middle of the year using the network of listed subsidiary Sunday Communications.

In its push to lure customers in the highly competitive, six-player market, the company is offering six month free trials and free handsets for its 'PCCW mobile'  service.

Chief financial officer Alex Arena said yesterday that 79.53 per cent-owned Sunday would now only sell a 2G service, while retaining the 3G licence and network.

PCCW will resell Sunday's 3G service, making it off-limits to the subsidiary it failed to privatise last month. Sunday will still sell 3G handsets.

The move will not affect the position of Sunday chief executive Bruce Hicks.

Mr Arena said PCCW was aiming to be the top mobile player. '[Our 3G mobile business] is PCCW, not Sunday. We want to be  No1 in the mobile sector ... not in terms of [subscriber numbers] share but be profitable, in two to three years,' he said.

He said because the company had left the sector in 2002 'we are a bit rusty in the mobile business, so we want to have a trial'.

The free trial is open to the public until  the middle of next month, and each participant will get a free 3G handset made by Sunday shareholder Huawei Technologies, the key network equipment vendor for Sunday's 3G network.

One analyst suggested another reason for PCCW's delay  of an official launch.

'I think the six-month trial shows that PCCW management has little faith in Huawei's network ... otherwise they would have launched the service right away,' he said, adding PCCW's mobile division was likely to  record a start-up loss this year.

Spearheading the 3G marketing and retail division is Tom Chan, the head of PCCW's consumer group. Gary Chow Ding-man, the head of PCCW's commercial group, has been appointed to boost corporate customer numbers, an area where Sunday was considered weak.

If all goes to plan, PCCW will introduce  the commercial service in July. The management yesterday gave no indication of future pricing strategy, but Mr Chan said 'our position in the market has always been on the high end, we won't wrestle with our rivals [on price]'.

Hutchison Telecom's 3, which claimed 383,000 3G subscribers as at August, yesterday said it would introduce two more 3G tariff plans  with free handsets  by LG and Sony-Ericsson. SmarTone Vodafone and CSL, the other two  3G players, were unavailable for comment.

For the trial,  PCCW mobile will feature mostly existing content from its Now Broadband TV platform.

For its 2G service, company executives said marketing for the corporate sector would start in the first quarter.

'There's still 2G market growth opportunity,' Mr Hicks said. 'PCCW would address a segment that we have never addressed before and it gives us a lot more access.'

PCCW bought a 79.53 per cent share in Sunday  through a general offer it began  in June last year but failed for a second time to privatise the company  last month. It is due to conduct a share placement to maintain Sunday's public float to at least 25 per cent.



PCCW makes mobile comeback