Hutchison's Numbers For UK 3G Launch Look Even Worse
If you thought things looked bad for Hutchison 3G's "3" launch in the UK after they admitted they'd only signed up 20,000 users and were receiving plenty of complaints about service quality, just wait until you see the latest details. Those 20,000 phones might not even be accurate, some are saying. They're suggesting the real numbers might be 1/3 of that total, because the 20,000 includes a large number of phones given out for free to VIPs and celebrities. It also (more importantly) doesn't include all of the returned phones, given back by people who weren't happy with the service. Apparently, 10 to 15% of those who buy the phones are sending them back and cancelling the service - but those numbers weren't included in the 20,000. To combat this, Hutchison is expected to lower their prices yet again (they already lowered them once last month). So, let's see. We have incredibly overhyped phones that no one is buying, the few people who are buying are complaining about them and returning the phones, and the company has had to lower handset prices every month since they've been launched (such that they'll soon be priced at 1/4 of what the launch price was). Sounds like things aren't going so well these days.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 3g
