News release
3 celebrates successful first year
London - Friday 5th March 2004
3, the UK's first video mobile network, celebrated its first full year of commercial operation this week. One year ago, on 03-03-03, 3 began to take its first orders for video mobiles in store.
Since launch, 3 has been challenging the status quo in the UK mobile market by offering customers great value price plans and the leading range of video mobile services.
"Today on 3" the first live, interactive, video mobile news and entertainment channel, a showcase of 3's latest content and services, went live this week.
3 also announced this week that it has more than doubled its current range of video mobiles, with the introduction of the NEC e616, Motorola A925 and the NEC e313 in addition to the Motorola A835 and A920.
Last week saw the launch of ThreePay, offering Pay-As-You-Go customers the same great value price plans it offers its contract customers, along with the unique same price, anytime, any network voice minutes. With the introduction of ThreePay, 3 is now addressing 65% of the UK mobile market.
This is in line with its strategy to progressively broaden its reach to new subscribers and builds significantly on the 35% market it had been reaching with its pay monthly contract price plans.
Bob Fuller, Chief Executive of 3, said: "3's strategy over the last year has been to incrementally open up the market at a pace that has enabled us to build and strengthen our network and operations infrastructure. Over the last year we have introduced a range of great value price plans and last week, as part of our ongoing commitment to deliver value to the consumer, we launched ThreePay. 3 now offers the most exciting range of 3G handsets in the UK with the launch of three new handsets, all of which support 3's range of video mobile services. This week, to mark our first anniversary we launched "Today on 3", the UK's first live, interactive, mobile channel, building on 3's leadership of video mobile and content services."
Mr Fuller added: "We are confident that the improvements we've made across the business, from optimising the network, to significantly enhancing our customer service, mean that we will be challenging our competitors at every level in the next 12 months. 2004 will be 3's year and more importantly the consumer's year."
33 facts about 3.
Licence:
1. In May 2000 Hutchison 3G won licence A, the largest of the 3G licences, at the lowest cost being auctioned by the UK government
2. The UK government set-aside licence A for a new-entrant to encourage competition in the market
The Figures:
3. 3 announced an ARPU of £44.56 in December 2003.
4. 14% of 3's revenue was data at 12/12/03 - in line with its business plan
5. Up to December 2003, 3 UK had attracted over 210,000 customers since its launch
6. Up to December 2003, 3 globally had attracted 660,000 customers.
7. 3's brand awareness in the UK is 65%
Price plans:
8. 3 offers a Pay-as-You-Go option called ThreePay as well as "contract" or "pay monthly" price plans.
9. With 3's price plans, the customer can choose from VideoTalk options that give great value on voice minutes or the VideoText plans are available for those who love to text.
10. ThreePay, 3's pay as you go offers customers the same great value as 3 offers its contract customers.
11. ThreePay top-up vouchers are: £15 for 100 voice minutes on VideoTalk or 100 texts on VideoText. £25 for 500 voice minutes on VideoTalk or 500 text messages on Video Text. £35 for 750 voice minutes on VideoTalk or 750 text messages.
12. Typical Pay-As-You-Go customers spending more than £15 per month are more likely to be better off switching to ThreePay.
Retail:
13. Over 3,200 retail outlets across the UK stock 3 products and services.
14. 3 has over 160 Superdrug 3Point stores-within-a store.
15. ThreePay top-up vouchers will be available in over 60,000 retail outlets nationwide.
16. Retailers believe 3 has the fastest customer registration in the UK.
Handsets:
17. 3 launched 9 video mobiles in the last year: From NEC: the e606, e808, e808y, e616 and the e313. From Motorola: the A830, A920, A835 and A925.
18. The NEC e313 is the first video mobile available for under £100 on Pay-As-You-Go
19. The Motorola A835 was the best-selling contract handset with three retail partners in early 2004.
Network:
20. The speed and scale of 3's radio network deployment is unprecedented in the mobile industry, at its peak up to 200 base stations were being installed per week.
21. Over 73% population coverage for video mobile services
22. Through a national roaming agreement, 3 has 99%coverage for voice and SMS services in UK
23. 3's core network is all IP (Internet Protocol).
24. 3 has installed over 5,250 radio sites in the UK.
Services:
25. 3 is the first video mobile network in the UK
26. Quickplay the video-streaming service is unique to 3 - customers can watch video clips of up to 8 mins within 15 secs of making their choice.
27. 3 was the first network to offer high-quality video streaming to customers.
28. 3 offers a leading range of video mobile services with content from ITN, Barclaycard Premiership, UEFA Champions League, MTV, Reuters and Emap to name but a few.
People:
29. 3 currently employs 2479 employees (including retail staff).
30. Bob Fuller, CEO, Gareth Jones, COO and David Cooper, CTO have over 57 years combined experience in the telecoms industry.
3 group of companies
31. There are 7 territories offering services under the 3 brand; Austria, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and the UK.
32. 3 offers international videocalling in 11 countries.
33. 3 UK's shareholders are Hutchison Whampoa, which owns 80% and Japan's NTT Docomo, which owns 20%.
- Ends -
For further information please contact:
3 media office
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7010 9312
About 3
Hutchison 3G UK Limited deliver third-generation mobile multimedia and communications services under the 3 brand in the UK, offering a convergence of media, information and telephony to enable live video calls, multimedia content and entertainment while on the move.
3 services are available from sister companies in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy and Sweden. 3 also holds UMTS licences in Ireland, Israel and Norway.
For further information, please visit: www.three.co.uk
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