Hutchison Telecom Adds Over 11 Million Subscribers in Q3

Hutchison Telecom has reported that during the 3rd quarter of this year, it maintained growth in a quarter where overall economic conditions were turbulent. Its total user base grew to 11.2 million with strong contribution from Indonesian operations which grew 12.5% quarterly. Established markets Hong Kong and Israel recorded significant growth in 3G customers and continued to report progress in all other operational parameters.

The GroupĂ's Indonesian operations added more than 950 sites in the quarter and added 401,000 new customers resulting in a total customer base of over 3.6 million. This represented year-on-year growth of 122% and quarterly growth of 12.5%.

In established markets the GroupĂ's operations reported sustained healthy growth in the 3G segment. The Hong Kong operations continued to consolidate its 3G market leader position with a 6.9% growth in its 3G customer base during the quarter, and its 1.3 million customers representing approximately 50% share of the 3G market in Hong Kong. Total customer base of Hong Kong has grown to approximately 2.7 million. Israeli operations also saw strong growth in the 3G segment which increased 8% during the quarter to 901,000, taking their total customer base to approximately 2.9 million.

During the quarter the GroupĂ's Indonesian operations continued to rebalance network traffic and cut back promotional offers which led to a 20% improvement in the key operational profitability parameter Average Revenue Per Minute to IDR177. This repositioning together with the ongoing intensity in the competitive environment impacted their other operational parameters although these showed improvement towards the end of the third quarter. The operationsĂ' network expansion plan progressed on track during the quarter and is now heading towards achieving the target of over 6,000 base stations by the end of 2008.

The high profile launch of iPhone 3G in Hong Kong during the quarter boosted mobile data usage and related revenues with over 40% of the iPhone users subscribed to the highest monthly plan. As a result non-voice revenue of the GroupĂ's Hong Kong mobile operations as a percentage of total revenue trended up to 21.2% during the quarter.

Dennis Lui, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Telecom said: "Against a backdrop of intensified competition and global economic turmoil, we are pleased that the GroupĂ's key mobile operations continued to report sustained customer growth and improvement in operational parameters. These are achieved through the successful implementation of strategic initiatives in our growth markets and effective leverage of our 3G market leadership role in established markets."

The GroupsĂ' Hong Kong fixed line operations also registered steady growth in its international and carrier businesses as well as corporate and business market. The Group says that it remains confident to see its Hong Kong fixed line operations achieve healthy year on year turnover growth.

Posted to the site on 12th November 2008