I have found that not to be true.
I'm running the new Sense Hero that King uploaded and it has the H indicator.
I pushed a different build.prop to try to fix the paid apps issue, it didn't fix that issue, but I did notice that the indicator now showed 3G.
I wonder if this change is what fixed the 3G icon.
OLD: ro.product.brand=htc_asia_wwe_sg
NEW: ro.product.brand=generic
I will mess with it a bit tonight and report back.
Most probably you only have hdscpa or how is it called, here in Timisoara there is 3G+, only the 3G appears and when I am losing signal I get the H icon, and when's even worse the Edge one. Therefor The 3G icon exists ...