Hutchison Telecommunications International said it swung to a net profit in the first quarter on good operating performance in Israel and the continuing strength of the Israeli shekel against the Hong Kong dollar.

The Hong Kong-listed company said its net profit for the three months ended March 31 was HK$310 million ($39.7 million), a turnaround from a net loss of HK$236 million a year earlier. It didn''t issue first-quarter revenue figures.

The telecom services operator said subscribers to its mobile-phone services rose 59% to 10 million at the end of March, from 6.3 million a year earlier.

The company operates second-generation mobile-phone services in Hong Kong, Thailand, Israel, Macau, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam, and 3G services in Israel and Hong Kong. It also has a fixed-line business in Hong Kong.

The company, 59.33 %-owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing''s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., said its mobile subscribers in Israel rose 4% to 2.8 million at the end of March, from 2.7 million a year earlier.

In the first quarter, its average revenue per user in Israel rose 1.3% to 155 Israeli shekels ($45.51) from 153 shekels on growth in its third-generation mobile customer base.

The company said its subscriber base in Indonesia and Sri Lanka also increased.

Mobile subscribers in Indonesia rose 14% to 2.3 million from 2 million at the end of last year, while customers in Sri Lanka increased 13% to 1.3 million from 1.1 million. The company didn''t give the customer numbers for the January-March quarter in 2007.



Source:Associated Press

Tags:3G