Removing barriers thru partnerships

Most Innovative Partnership Strategy	3 Hong Kong & WhatsApp
Last year's winner:	new category
Business segments:	4G, 3G mobile telecommunications, GSM dual-band and Wi-Fi services (TBC)
CEO:	Peter Wong
Key stats:	Consolidated turnover of HK15.5 billion ($2 billion), up 16% (FY12); profit of $158 million, up 20%; 3.78 million total mobile subscribers, up 8%

3 Hong Kong struck partnerships last year with WhatsApp and Fixmo as well as Vodafone through contacts with the Conexus Mobile Alliance - all meant to improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

The team-up with WhatsApp enabled 3HK to launch the WhatsApp Roaming Pass, which it describes as a world's first. This offering leverages the company's partnership with operators worldwide. For a fixed daily charge, customers could send unlimited messages and photos using WhatsApp.

Daniel Chung Yiu Man, 3HK CTO for mobile, said one of 3HK's strategies is continual modernization of the network to deliver higher-speed performance. "We also strive to increase network capacity by re-farming existing spectrum and deploying new spectrum in the near future," said Chung.

He added that by understanding the needs of customers and global industry trends, 3HK continues to introduce exclusive applications and services, such as 3 Super Safe and WhatsApp Roaming Pass, "which enable users to reap the largest benefits offered by smart devices and advanced networks."

3 Super Safe, developed in collaboration with Fixmo, is a multi-functional mobile security application that offers anti-theft, anti-virus and data protection. Chung said that 3HK removed the barrier for customers by launching various content services in which data usage is included in the package to provide customers with hassle-free data service.