Hutchinson Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate which is a major investor in Grand Bahama, is spending heavily on start-up mobile phone businesses in Europe, Hong Kong and Australia, according to financial news reports.
About 60,000 European subscribers will soon receive handsets in a $16.7-billion project involving the latest cellular technology (known as high-speed, third-generation, or 3G), the Financial Times reported Friday. The technology aims to provide a mobile Internet service.
But there is still skepticism about the viability and cost of 3G services, which combine mobile telephony with high-speed Internet access, providing new ways to communicate, access information, conduct business, and be entertained.
The world’s first commercialised third-generation mobile communication service was launched in 2001 in Japan by NTT DoCoMo. There are no technical obstacles to 3G deployment. The issues are regulatory and economic, with subscriber demand a key factor.
3G enables users to transmit voice, data, and even video at high speeds, for services like Internet connection, transmission of large-scale data and video, and software downloading.
Hutchinson Whampoa is controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, and had profits of $1.8 billion in 2002. It operates 31 container ports around the world, including Freeport, whose deepwater harbour just 65 miles from the east coast of the United States was a major attraction.
Hutchinson’s $550-million Freeport complex opened in 1997 and can handle the largest container ships in the world.
Hutchinson’s businesses span 41 countries, with interests in telecommunications, property and hotels, energy infrastructure and retailing and manufacturing.
The Nassau Guardian
