THE smallest of Britain’s mobile phone operators will reveal that it lost more than £1 billion when it files its overdue 2004 accounts with Companies House shortly.

The operator 3 says that its cash income is now enough to cover its basic cash outgoings, but it paid £2.3 billion for its third-generation (3G) licence and has run up more than £2 billion of losses.

A long-expected flotation of the British business by Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong conglomerate that created the company, now looks years away. Plans to list a minority of its more successful Italian sister company were shelved this year.

British subsidiaries of foreign owned companies have 13 months to file and 3’s accounts should have been filed by January this year. They are expected to show a loss of about £1.5 billion, in excess of 2003’s £972 million deficit.

Hutchison, which is listed in Hong Kong, does not publicly detail the performance of 3 UK, which is part of a loosely affiliated group of 3G mobile investments across Europe.

The company did say that 3 UK generated for the first time positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in December, and that 3 across Europe would do the same in 2006. It has 3.5 million customers, who spend an average of £34 a month each.

Last year, Hutchison said that 3 lost £1.98 billion before interest and tax on sales of £2.75 billion, suggesting that 3 UK will post a large loss in 2005 when it files those figures with Companies House in the next fortnight.

The British mobile operator declined to comment, but said that it “been in communication with Companies House” over the late filing of its accounts.

The company was launched in Britain in 2003, after Hutchison promised that the multimedia capabilities of 3G technology “will be the most exciting thing in your life”.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive