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To: Eric L who wrote (13991)	7/20/2001 9:17:23 AM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 34857

re: GPRS in Hong Kong >> Hong Kong's Operators Say That Their 2.5G Networks Are Ready But They Are Waiting For The Handsets James Moore Research Analyst 20-Jul-2001 Charles Henshaw, Chief Executive Officer of Peoples Telephone Company Limited, gave a presentation about 2.5G and 3G deployments in Hong Kong at CommunicAsia 2001 held from 19-22 June 2001. Hong Kong has a population of 6.2 million which incidentally live in only 20% of the area of Hong Kong. It is a highly penetrated market with a current cellular penetration of around 80% (EMC World Cellular Database). Hong Kong operators are geared up for the introduction of 2.5G services. Hutchison claimed that it had launched 2.5G CDMA IS-95B packet data transmission technology in August 2000. A Sanyo C304A handset was used and the tariff was a monthly fee of HKD 9 for the wireless internet service with packet data mobile service users charged at HKD 0.01 for each data unit (600 bytes of data) they download. All six operators have claimed that their networks are ready for GPRS. In 2000 Pacific Century CyberWorks Hong Kong Telecom (PCCW HKT) and SmarTone conducted a pilot test with a small group of selected customers. Sagem and Motorola 7389i handsets were used. Applications included web browsing, instant messaging, email and WAP surfing. A tariff of HKD 198 each month was charged for 2MB of data transmission. Forthcoming GPRS handsets are scheduled to launch in Hong Kong as follows: Handset Scheduled Launch Date Motorola V66 July 2001 Ericsson T39 August 2001 Ericsson T68 December 2001 Nokia N6310 unknown Nokia N8310 unknown Panasonic GD95 unknown Henshaw claims that GPRS services have not been commercially launched in Hong Kong yet and that it is expected that the services will be launched in July or August 2001. This contradicts PCCW HKT who say that it launched the first commercial GPRS service in Hong Kong in November 2000. Henshaw says that mobile operators are well prepared in terms of network readiness. Hutchison claims that its GPRS network has been ready since October 2000. The various GPRS service commercial launches will rely on the support and availability of handsets. The lack of handsets have meant that little network testing has been done. The problems which Hong Kong operators and users have experienced with WAP also mean that subscribers could be reluctant to adopt GPRS. Therefore market education will be very important. Hutchison has a choice of 15 WAP handsets. Popular applications include m-commerce, bill payments and stocks. For Hutchison, high-end WAP usage is up to 30 minutes per day. << - Eric -