Mobile phone company Mm02 said today it might delay its launch of high-speed, third-generation (3G) mobile phone services by a few months until around November.
Chief Executive Mr Peter Erskine said the company, which had said it planned a German 3G launch in the late summer, was set to bring the high-tech, multimedia phones to Germany by "late autumn".
Mm02, the smallest of Germany's four mobile phone operators, has already delayed its 3G launch in Britain to the second half of 2004 after harsher-than-expected regulatory price cuts forced the company to rein in investment.
Mm02 has adopted a "go-slow" 3G investment strategy in Germany, which has already seen two rivals postpone costly 3G start-ups. But the British group plans to meet regulatory requirements and ensure its 3G network reaches 25 per cent of the population by the end of this year.
Although mm02's unit, which is branded 02 Germany, has beaten market forecasts by reaching positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) six months ahead of guidance, it remains loss-making.
Some analysts still believe mm02 might sell the business, which has only about 8 per cent of a market that is 80-percent controlled by Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Group -possibly merging it with Dutch-owned rival E-Plus.