UK iPhone 4S Activation/Usage Abroad

Hi,
I immigrated from the UK to Hong Kong on Saturday 15th. I was lucky enough to have my 4S pre-order from the Apple UK Online Store arrive on the 14th at my doorstep.
Does anyone know why I can't activate certain SIM cards in my 4S?
I'm currently still on my O2 sim and roaming, but when I tried a local PCCW (it's equivilent of BT over here) sim card, it wouldn't activate. The shop owner then tried it in another new 4S (also from UK he said) and it activated fairly quickly eliminating the SIM to be the problem.
I can activate 3 Hong Kong SIM cards without issue. I'm going to try Smartone-Vodafone later today (who I plan to start a SIM only contract with anyway) when the store opens but any idea's before I go?
All networks here are GSM based and not CDMA.
Are UK iPhone 4Ss locked down to UK similarly-based carriers (i.e. the UK has a 3 network presence, hence it works in HK)?
Thanks in advance, any answer could solve my problem.

Hey ray how are you doing with your 4s now? I got exactly the same problem with my newly UK purchased 4s to be used in China. The essential thing is is your 4s officially unlocked or locked to any British carrier? But i wonder since you said your 4s can be activated by 3 HK because 3 runs biz in both HK and UK then you phone is bought as unlocked, also as you said it's online pre-ordered i presume your one is unlock from apple website.
My situation is slightly different. I purchased 4s from 3UK and paid to unlocked them after i brought them back to China, buy calling 3UK CS and paid by credit card. Now i have confirmed with both 3UK and UK apple stores that my 4s is permenantly unlocked by apple, submitted and requested by my carrier 3UK.
The truth comes as ones i switch from the original 3UK sim to any other sim from Mainland China, the phone asks for re-activiate again... tried everything, dead end.
I've beending talked with one very friendly staff at apple store here in UK. The guess is either the phone need to at least be able to roam to it's original operator to get unlocked via itunes, or all the Chinese providers are not supported to ran 4s up. I dont believe the later one because if the phone is originally unlock from uk and been activated in the UK, it's for sure can be used with China Unicom or CMCC at 2G mode.
Still cant activate my 4s, once i insert other sim, asked for re-activate till i swith back the original UK3 SIM.
Any suggestion or help is appreciated!

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Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like your running into an Activation Lock issue since restoring your iPhone. Take a look at the article linked below, it will provide more details about the feature and provide suggestions on how to recover the username and password.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5818
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Just to close the topic and let others know of the same issues.
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