3 heads for Hong Kong with 3G

3, Britain's first and, currently, only third-generation mobile supplier, has decided to focus its efforts a little closer to home, with the official launch of its service in Hong Kong.

The third-generation service will go live in Hutchison Whampoa-owned 3's home territory on 27 January, with a flagship shop dedicated to showing off third-generation kit due to open its doors a few days before.

While 3's UK subscriber numbers have yet to reach the dizzy heights it predicted, more than 80,000 Hong Kong residents have already pre-registered for the service. 3 hopes to win more with promises of 19 content channels, featuring news, the latest from the Hang Seng, football updates and 'adult content'.

Despite the fact that 3G licences were handed out in Hong Kong about three years ago, 3 will be the first service to launch. The mobile supplier had planned to roll out the service in summer last year, but delayed its launch till January because of a shortage of third generation handsets - a problem that has also dogged its services in Europe.