PHONES OF THE FUTURE FROM HUTCHISON TELEPHONE
"WE aim
to provide the largest and the best radio telephone service to the local community," states Rick Siemens, managing director of Hutchison's newest subsidiary, Hutchison Telephone Company.
No mean ambition, but if current market indicators are anything to go by, the fledgling company is well on its way to achieving this goal.
Hutchison Telephone was incorporated in 1984 and opened for business in June, 1985, selling and leasing the Citicomm unit, at 28 ounces the only truly portable unit available in Hong Kong to date. Even before the doors were officially open, business was good, with several hundred Citicomm units presold. Since then, growth has been well up to expectations.
"We had achieved monthly sales levels which matched the top end of our business plan by the end of 1985," says Mr Siemens.
The company, owned 51% by Hutchison, 30% by Motorola and 19% by Distacom Communications, was established as a total telecommunications services company.
The service Hutchison Telephone now offers covers the whole of Hong Kong by 28 radio transmission/reception cellsites. Signals pass from a mobile telephone to the nearest cellsite. From there, the signals are relayed to the main radio telephone exchange for transmission to any land-based telephone or to the international satellite station for overseas calls. Users can move from cell to cell without any interruption of signal or deterioration in quality.
"As other portable units using our system are introduced to Hong Kong, and units become even smaller, the appeal of the portable telephone could increase to the point where it rivals the conventional wire line systems," Mr Siemens predicts.
For international travellers, the units have a particular appeal. The Citicomm telephone is small enough to be carried in a briefcase to be used in any country in the world that uses a similar system.
"Our system is a standard design and protocol that has been accepted worldwide. It has been introduced in the United States, Canada and South Korea and will be adopted in Australia, Singapore and the Philippines. This means that immediately you land in these countries, you will be able to make contact with your destination or receive calls," explains Mr Siemens.
Investment for 1985 stood at HK$100 million and over the next four to five years a further HK$100 million will be injected. "Hutchison Telephone Company has made this major investment in telecommunications as an indication of its confidence in the technology it offers," says Mr Siemens.
RICK SIEMENS,
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF
HUTCHISON TELEPHONE
COMPANY.
"The appeal of the
portable telephone
could increase to the
point where it rivals
conventional wire line
systems."
25
HUTCHISON WHAMPOA LIMITED
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