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To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (1947)	10/3/2001 2:22:32 AM
From: ms.smartest.person	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2248

Hutchison to spend $4b on 3G October 2, 2001 9:41am HONG KONG IMAIL Dennis Ng HUTCHISON Telecom plans to invest $3 billion to $4 billion in its third-generation (3G) cellular services over the next 18 to 24 months including costs for the network and licence, said managing director Agnes Nardi. The 3G licence winner expects to recover its investment within four to five years after its planned rollout before the end of 2002, Ms Nardi said. Two other 3G rivals earlier predicted a $1.5 billion to $2 billion outlay over the next three to four years from 2003 when 3G is expected to be launched. Hutchison Telecom had paid $2.4 million-more than the total bids from the other three operators-to secure the most attractive 3G spectrum from the government. The Office of Telecommunications Authority (Ofta) yesterday completed the third phase of the 3G licences issue. In this phase, four provisional licensees submitted sealed bids to establish priorities in the selection of frequency bands. Due to its high bid, the spectrum acquired by Hutchison Telecom is technically superior to that of the others'. SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings (0315), with a bid of $1.4 million, ranked second. Hong Kong CSL, a venture between Telstra and Pacific Century CyberWorks (0008), paid $288,812 while Sunday Communications (0866) paid $10,000. Sunday group managing director Craig Ehrlich said the company has no plans to bring in strategic investors for its 3G business. Hutchison Telecom acquired the licence through its Hutchison 3G HK unit, which is 75 per cent owned by Hutchison Whampoa (0013) and 25 per cent by NTT DoCoMo. Ofta director-general Anthony Wong Sik-kei said the regulator would issue guidelines next week for mobile virtual network operators to apply for a licence. He also said 3G licences could be granted next month after the completion of the third phase of bidding. The regulator expects licences to be granted before the year end. The four operators were yesterday required to make payment and provide a performance bond with respect to minimum payments for the next five years. Copyright 2001 HONG KONG IMAIL all rights reserved as distributed by WorldSources, Inc. AP-NY-10-02-01 0942EDT Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press hoovnews.hoovers.com