Hutchison Whampoa’s 3G business failed to reach breakeven at the ebit level in 2009.
The Hong Kong conglomerate now expects the 3 Group to achieve ebit breakeven this year.
3 narrowed its 2009 ebit loss to HK$5.3 billion ($683m), down 67% from HK$15.8 billion in 2008.
The 2009 results included a one-time gain of HK$3.6 billion due to the merger of 3 and Vodafone in Australia and license amortizations.
Removing one-off gains and amoritization in both 2008 and 2009, the loss would have declined by 32%.
Meanwhile, revenue in local currencies grew 5%, but fell 5% to HK$57.6 billion when converted to Hong Kong dollars.
Hutchison Whampoa was hoping that its 3G arm would break even on an ebit basis in 2009.
Managing director Canning Fok - who originally predicted a turnaround in the 3G business in 2007 – admitted in August that the goal might not be achieved until the first half of 2010.
The 3 Group’s operations – spanning the UK, Italy, Australia, Austria, Hong Kong and Sweden – notched up 26.8 million subs in 2009, up from 25.3 million in August.
Chairman Li Ka-shing believes 3’s outlook to be "still positive" and he expects good growth in 2010 from the mobile arm, the Wall Street Journal reported.