Hutchison Telecom sees growth drive in second half

Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong is looking forward to tough, but more reasonable local mobile competition and a 3G spectrum auction later this year after the industry’s latest consolidation.

Jennifer Tan Yuen-chun, the newly appointed chief operating officer at Hutchison Telecom, said on Monday that the local market expected “more sensible competition”, following HKT’s recent acquisition of CSL New World Mobility.

“We are well-prepared and focused to provide good services to the market,” Tan said. She pointed out that the company was working on viable scenarios, whether or not it succeeds in getting back the 3G mobile spectrum that it returned to the government, to expand its network and beef up services.

The Hong Kong government is set to auction off a third of the 3G spectrum previously held by each of the city’s four incumbent 3G mobile network operators in the fourth quarter this year. Spectrum represents the radio frequency bands assigned by the government over which mobile network services are provided.

HKT will not submit a bid since it has enough spectrum from the CSL takeover. That could open up the auction to more bids from China Mobile, which runs a 4G network in Hong Kong, and the other interested parties.