Proof that existing 3G services failed to live up to early billing in Hong Kong
Six months after the last media frenzy surrounding industry consolidation, Hong Kong's mobile operators are back in the limelight thanks to two developments which, depending on who is talking, mark either the next great evolution or the latest in a series of false dawns in a sector marred by over-competition and faltering share prices.
At least one thing is clear. Both Hutchison Telecom's decision to license NTT DoCoMo's i-mode data platform and the launch of Hong Kong's first 'super 3G' service by SmarTone-Vodafone illustrate the extent to which existing 3G services had failed to live up to their billing.
'I-mode will give customers a better avenue through which to access the internet,' said Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong chief executive Peter Wong King-fai.
I-mode's strength derives from its ease of use for users and developers. Its open platform is based on regular internet standards and therefore makes it easy for content developers to create mobile applications at relatively little cost.
It also represents a point of departure for operators such as Hutchison who have previously adopted a walled-garden approach to their content, reaching bilateral partnerships in which they control the revenue-sharing agreements and make it more difficult for users to reach third-party content on the wider internet.