www.three.com.au

Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited (Hutchison) today announced its half-year results, for the period ended 30 June 2003.

Hutchison Chief Executive Kevin Russell said he was pleased to report ongoing growth in Orange and a strong take-up of recently launched 3 services for video calling, information and entertainment services.

"The last six months have been tremendously exciting for Hutchison. The launch of 3 has clearly been a great success in terms of service delivery and customer acquisition. And Orange mobile continues to deliver steady post-paid customer growth in a tight 2G market," Mr Russell said.

"As at close of business last night, we have more than 43,000 subscribers enjoying the service on 3," Mr Russell said.

"This is a particularly pleasing result as we launched in Sydney and Melbourne in mid April with an entirely new product and without any public visibility of our brand," he said.

"We did not launch in our other markets, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth until 1 July, so the month of July has really been our first month of sales across the breadth of our addressable market.

"We are on track to pass 50,000 customers within the next two weeks, and are focussing on strengthening our service and product offering and expanding our distribution reach in the run-up to Christmas."

Mr Russell said he was also pleased to report steady growth in revenues for Hutchison and Orange, which added more than 15,000 customers in the six months to 30 June.

"Total operating revenue is up 16% compared to the corresponding period last year, due to the launch of 3 and an 8% growth in Orange Mobile revenue. Ongoing costs discipline has meant we have been able to deliver our target of a second consecutive half of positive EBITDA, coming in at $12.2 million for the half to 30 June.