18-5-2000

Hutchison Telecom and Hudson today announced that they have entered into a partnership through NTT DoCoMo's assistance to bring one of Japan's best-loved network games, Miracle Grand Prix (Miracle GP), to Hong Kong. The partnership gives Hutchison's WAP users exclusive access to this popular interactive entertainment game in Hong Kong.

Japan's Popular Entertainment Game Exclusive to Hutchison WAP Users

Hudson is one of the leading entertainment software companies in Japan and has been providing popular games with a human touch, including Miracle GP, to i-mode users in Japan since March this year. Currently, Miracle GP enjoys an average of 10 million page requests per month from its 30,000 registered players in Japan.

Through the support and assistance of NTT DoCoMo and with the use of the HTML filtering technology, Miracle GP is now made available to the Hong Kong market. NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest mobile communications operator, with more than 29.4 million subscribers as of March 2000. In February 1999, DoCoMo launched the "i-mode" service for continuous connection with the Internet via mobile phones. The number of subscribers to the service is now close to 7 million.

Hutchison Telecom is committed to providing the broadest and fullest range of WAP services to customers. With the launch of Miracle GP, the entertainment content of Hutchison's comprehensive WAP service is further enriched. Miracle GP is a new-generation car-racing game where players compete for time and position and where players in Hong Kong and Japan can compare results of their respective best performers.

It will definitely be a welcomed addition to Hutchison Telecom's existing selection of entertainment programmes for its WAP users.

Miracle GP, an Intelligence Game for WAP

Hutchison's WAP users need only register with Hudson as car racers via their WAP phones to participate in the challenging Miracle GP racing game. Racers' performances on the game will be updated constantly for ranking purposes.

Registered racers may practise in the "Free Run" session or enter for "Time Attack". The "Free Run" session can be taken for as many times as the racer desires, but access to the "Time Attack" session is limited to only up to three times a day.

"Free Run" and "Time Attack" Sessions

At "Free Run", racers can choose from six different car models, such as "formula car", "classic car" or "limousine". They may also adjust their car settings and select different car parts including suspensions, engines and accessories.

At "Time Attack", racers compete for the best time. There are plenty of racing circuits to choose from, such as regular racing course, dart course and icy course. The circuits will be changed daily to offer racers endless challenge and excitement. The circuits offered in Hong Kong will be similar to the one as in Japan, so Hutchison's WAP users will be able to compare their results with those of their counterparts, i-mode users in Japan. The respective top-ranking charts of Japan and Hong Kong will be available to racers from both areas. Furthermore, apart from competing for daily rankings, racers can also check their results for the past seven days.

First-Ever i-mode Game for Hong Kong

"We are excited to bring Hong Kong consumers one of Japan's best-loved entertainment games, which incidentally will be the first-ever Japanese network game available to Hong Kong," said Stephen Ngan, Deputy Managing Director & Sales & Marketing Director (Wireless) of Hutchison Telecom. "Miracle GP is so popular in Japan that it has already registered 30,000 racers and enjoyed an average of 10 million page requests per month. Our most sincere gratitude will also be given to NTT DoCoMo, which has made this service available. We are planning to bring in another three or four interactive games from Hudson. Together with NTT DoCoMo and Hudson, Hutchison will continue to explore and introduce more exclusive and interesting games to Orange users."

"This is the first time for a Japanese Internet content company to supply such service to an overseas company," said Shinichi Nakamoto, Vice President and Representative Director of Hudson Soft. "We are delighted that Hutchison Telecom has chosen us from several Japanese i-mode content providers, and we are proud that our company is the first Japanese company providing game contents to Internet connectable mobile phones in Hong Kong. With NTT DoCoMo's support and Hutchison's large mobile subscriber base, we are sure that this will help us open our entertainment content business for mobile phones in Hong Kong as well as the international market."

"This Miracle GP is the first step to transport the enormous success of i-mode in Japan", said Takeshi Natsuno, Executive Director of NTT DoCoMo. "NTT DoCoMo will cooperate with Hutchison to constantly enhance the capabilities of their services, and ensure Hutchison's position as the leading mobile wireless internet service provider in Hong Kong."

For enquiries, please contact:

Frances Ng
Public Relations Manager
Hutchison Telecom
Tel: 2128 6739
Fax: 2123 1257
Email: francesng@hthk.com

Editor's Note

Hutchison Telecom is the leading telecommunications operator in Hong Kong with the largest mobile subscriber base. The Company was the first operator in Hong Kong to run three digital mobile networks simultaneously, which were the Orange dual band (900/1800) and CDMA networks.

With the commitment to providing mobile users with a broad range of quality telecommunications products and services, the Company has consistently expanded its portfolio of value-added services offerings in WAP service, mobile commerce, and lifestyle information services. Hutchison Telecom is actively developing WAP mobile Internet services, high-speed data communications and mobile multimedia services, as well as pursuing a migration path towards third-generation mobile services.

Hudson Soft: Founded in 1973 in Japan, Hudson started its business activities as a shop selling amateur-radio instruments and started developing software programs for microcomputers soon after its start. With the corporate policy of pursuing leading-edge technology and supplying more enjoyable products, the company entered the home-game software market as Nintendo's first third-party software vendor in 1984. Later, Hudson also entered into a tie-up with NEC Home Electronics, Ltd and succeeded in marketing a "PC-Engine" in 1987. Throughout their reconstruction process, Hudson has focused on providing society an enjoyable form of mutual understanding among people, and strives to change the company into a comprehensive digital entertainment company that can connect people across generations and categories of entertainment.

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. is Japan's largest mobile communications operator. DoCoMo had more than 29.4 million subscribers as of March 2000, and consolidated sales of 3.1 trillion (US$27 billion) in fiscal 1998 (ended March 1999). It was formed in July 1992 to take over the mobile telecom operations and sales of Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT). Services including cellular and PHS telephone, paging, satellite mobile communications, and maritime and in-flight telephone are provided nationwide through nine regional subsidiaries.

The company also has subsidiaries in the U.S., France and Brazil. In February 1999, DoCoMo launched the "i-mode" service for continuous connection with the Internet via mobile phones.

The number of subscribers to the service is currently close to 7 million. DoCoMo expects to introduce third-generation mobile communications based on its Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) system in the spring of 2001. The company is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.