News Release

New upgrades to SmarTone’s enable customers
to get closer to the ones they care about instantly & creatively

(18 July 2003, Hong Kong) – As Hong Kong’s leading mobile network operator in innovative and high-quality data services, SmarTone offers customers true MMS experience with new upgrades to , its picture messaging service. 's compelling features include Pic a Frame, unlimited storage of picture messages on personal computer, improved legacy phone support and picture optimisation.

“Combining picture, voice and text, enables customers to get closer to and share delightful moments instantly and creatively with the ones they care about. With the new enhanced features, offers true MMS experience and lets our customers express themselves more creatively and effectively than ever before," said Mr. Douglas Li, Chief Executive Officer of SmarTone.

The feature of Pic a Frame affords customers with a wide variety of frames, so that they can better express themselves with . Customers can try out different frames and select the best one to dress up their picture messages, then they can send the unique and thoughtful picture messages to the ones they care about.

Pic a Frame is applicable to all MMS CameraPhones and requires no program download to the MMS mobile phones, thus offering SmarTone customers the best user experience. By simply sending a picture via MMS to a designated number “888”, customers will receive a WAP link for browsing the frames (grouped under six categories, namely “Love”, “Celebrations”, “Thoughts & Wishes”, “Encouragement”, “Funworld”, and “Zodiac” catered to different needs and tastes) and previewing the uploaded picture with their favourite frames. Upon confirmation of the selected frame, the self-created and unique picture will be downloaded back to customers’ handsets for their forwarding to loved ones straightaway or saving as wallpaper. The number of choices of frames will continuously be updated and expanded.

The second unique great feature of  is that when a picture message is sent to a customer's email account, he can still enjoy true MMS experience when the picture message is replayed on his own personal computer. The advantage is the unlimited storage of picture messages on the customer's personal computer, thus freeing up the memory capacity of his mobile phone.

In contrast to the ordinary MMS experience afforded by other networks, which are unsynchronized replay of picture, text and sound, guarantees true MMS experience all the way through i.e.

-	when the customer forwards the picture message (which has been stored in his personal computer) to his friend’s email account, his friend can also enjoy true MMS experience (i.e. synchronized replay of picture, text and sound).
-	the customer can retrieve the picture message from his personal computer and send it to his mobile phone, then forward the picture message to his friend’s mobile phone – again, his friend can enjoy true MMS experience (i.e. synchronized replay of picture, text and sound).

offers no ordinary MMS experience since SmarTone is the first in Hong Kong to provide true non-MMS phone support (or so-called Legacy Phone Support) when the service was launched in last July:

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To ensure that sent by SmarTone customers will reach their recipients, each recipient will be sent an SMS message containing an internet address (URL) and a unique message ID. The recipient of the can then retrieve and view the message via the internet or a WAP handset within the next 48 hours. This applies to all recipients who are not -registered customers of SmarTone or mobile phone users of overseas GSM networks.

SmarTone is also the 1^st in the world to provide on-the-fly optimisation of content presentation to its customers when receiving MMS content. Hence, only SmarTone customers can enjoy optimal images and sound replay via regardless of the models of their MMS mobile phones and sender’s network.

“Not only do the new upgraded features of further reinforce SmarTone’s leadership in data services, but they also exemplify our ’Get Closer’ customer-oriented strategy of providing the best network and services to our customers, thus helping them get closer to the people, the information and the entertainment that are important to them,” added Mr. Li.

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Pricing details of
Send	1-10 KB: $1.5	11-30 KB: $3	31-100 KB: $8
Receive	2 cents / KB
Pic a Frame	Send to a designated number “888”		$1 / photo
	Download		$1 / download
	Browsing frames & preview of the framed picture on		2 cents / KB
Storing to PC	Send from mobile phone to email account		1-10 KB: $1.5
			11-30 KB: $3
			31-100 KB: $8
Re-storing from PC	Send stored from email account (in personal computer) to mobile phone		2 cents / KB

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About SmarTone

Established in 1992, SmarTone is a leading provider of mobile communications services in Hong Kong. It is a customer-oriented Company and aims to bring its customers closer to the people, the information and the entertainment that is important to them and, through this, to generate greater shareholders' value.

With our strong technological heritage and deep commitment to quality service, we intend to bring our customers into the new world of 2.5G/3G mobile infotainment and media. With a clear focus on customer needs, we have marketed numerous compelling services which deliver substantial benefits to our customers' recent branded offerings include , , , , , and .

Our commitment to quality service is well recognised in Hong Kong, validated by recent retail and service industry awards.

We were the first operator to launch GSM mobile services in Asia in 1993 and the first in Hong Kong to introduce automatic international roaming. We were the first in the world to implement Enhanced Full Rate technology in our network in 1997, greatly improving voice quality for our customers. We were the first in Hong Kong to pilot launch GPRS in 1999.

SmarTone (SEHK: 0315) has been publicly listed in Hong Kong since 1996. The Company's major shareholder is Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (holding about 51%).

Website address: www.smartone.com.hk

For further information, please contact: