3 gambles on three million more handsets

NEWS Mobile operator 3 is ordering three million more 3G handsets, despite subscriber numbers well below the much-publicised one million mark and huge customer acquisition costs. But despite the slow-take up of the new 3G phones and services the Motorola and NEC handsets have been ordered and the company is planning an aggressive push to get them into the hands of consumers in time for Christmas. In order to stimulate demand for 3G, which currently has just 155,000 subscribers in the UK, 3 is giving away its handsets – which cost several hundred pounds – at substantially discounted rates. The 3G operator has changed its marketing focus to try and attract more 'man in the street' users, as well as cutting tariffs on voice only services in order to distance itself from its image as purely a provider of video packages. Despite 3G take-up hitting profits from 3's parent company Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison managing director Canning Fok remains bullish, saying that if he wasn't confident about the future of the company, he wouldn't have ordered the huge shipment of handsets.