Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison-Whampoa defied the economic gloom on Thursday, shrinking losses at mobile unit 3 Group for the six months to the end of June by 72 per cent year on year to HK$3.2bn.

Revenues for the same period also jumped 14 per cent from HK$28bn to HK$32bn, as the groups 3G customer base increased 7 per cent to 19 million worldwide.

Contract customers as a percentage of the registered customer base increased to 51 per cent, compared to 47 per cent at the end of 2007. Although Average revenue per user (ARPU) declined by 7 per cent to Eur37.11, hit by regulatory imposed reductions on mobile termination rates in Europe and an increased proportion of mobile broadband customers. Hutch said that mobile broadband customers characteristically generate lower ARPU, but higher percentage gross margins than handset customers.

The 3 Group now counts over 1.5 million mobile broadband users.

Emerging markets subsidiary, Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), also reported revenues of HK$11.76bn for the six month period, a 22 per cent increase over the previous year. EBIT for the same period also climbed 9 per cent year on year to just over HK$2bn.

At the end of June, HTIL had a consolidated mobile customer base of 11.1 million, a 68 per cent increase over the comparable base last year.