3 (telecommunications)


3 or Three is a global brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and broadband internet providers operate in Hong Kong, Macau, Austria, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The brand was founded in 2002 in Hong Kong., registered Three customers worldwide numbered over 130 million.
All 3-branded network companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of CK Hutchison but the ownership structure varies. CK Hutchison Holdings owns direct majority interests of six networks through 3 Group Europe, including Austria, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings operates the networks in Hong Kong and Macau, while Hutchison Asia Telecom Group operates the network in Indonesia. All 3-branded networks provide 4G and 3G service; some also run 2G networks and some provide 4.5G service.
Hutchison Whampoa no longer holds a 3G licence in Israel which was formerly operated under the brand Orange, and in Norway where an unused licence was previously held by 3 Scandinavia.

Etymologies and logo

During the launch of the brand in 2002, when Hutchison Whampoa sold its 2G business Orange, the brand name Three represented their new 3G services. In 2003, CK Hutchison stated that the name refers to their three global telecommunication services: 3G, GSM Dualband and CDMA.
The logo, which is a visual representation of the number "3", was originally three-dimensional and red in colour. Throughout the years of operation, it has had different versions. In 2009, it was unified into a flat black and white logo. The company describes the logo's design philosophy as "cool outside and hot inside".

Global operations

Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong

Hong Kong

3 Hong Kong is operated by Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison.
In May 2004, its affiliated 2G operator, Orange, re-branded its services and changed its name to "3 Dualband", referring to the GSM product, and "3 CDMA", referring to the CDMA product.
On 29 May 2008, Hutchison Telecommunications Limited announced that it has signed an agreement with Apple Inc. to bring the iPhone to Hong Kong later that year under 3. In 2012, a partnership with Vodafone was launched and 3 Hong Kong is a member of the Conexus Mobile Alliance.
Ownership:
3 Macau is launched in 2000 providing GSM dual-band services. In 2007, they launched 3G services. In 2008, 3 Macau brought the iPhone to Macau an agreement with Apple. Till now, they are providing both 3G and 4G services and is the second largest mobile operator in Macau.

Hutchison Asia Telecom

Indonesia

3 Indonesia, operated by PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia and Cyber Access Communication ), was founded as a company in 2002, received a 3G licence in 2004, and began operations on 29 March 2007, initially in the Jakarta area only. Only after 9 months of operations, 3 acquired about 2.2 million GSM customers. 3 achieved high customer mindshare maintaining at about 90% of awareness level as of April 2009.
As of April 2009, 3 Indonesia had about 4.5 million customers on its GSM network. 3 offers both pre-paid and post-paid services. Currently, the post-paid service is available in Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya area.
3 Indonesia slogan is, "Your mobile lifestyle provider", formerly, "Jaringan GSM-mu ", "Jaringan Selularmu ". Sometimes, 3 use "Mau? " and "Hanya di 3 " slogan in their ads.
3 currently has full GSM coverage in Java, Sumatera, Bali, Lombok, and Riau Islands. And as of April 2009, Kalimantan is covered in South Kalimantan and Sulawesi is covered in South Sulawesi.
The 3 UMTS/HSDPA service is now available in most parts of Java, especially big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung.
3 Indonesia launched its new unlimited text and MMS service for a fee with Facebook on 8 April 2009, so registered 3 customers can update status, write on wall, or upload new pictures freely without any more charges. Beside with Facebook, 3 also cooperated with Yahoo! to give unlimited chat for a fee by SMS and downloadable app using Yahoo! Messenger service. Both of these are the first of their kind in Indonesia.
It is announced that Charoen Pokphand divested its telecommunication business in Indonesia by sale of its share on 3 to Garibaldi Thohir and Northstar Group. The company name is now PT. Hutchison 3 Indonesia.
Ownership:

Austria

3 Austria started operations in May 2003. The company promised to have 95% population coverage with HSDPA end of 2007. By 2008, 3's 3G coverage reached 94% of the population. Outside the coverage of its own 3G-network it relies on national roaming on the network of T-Mobile Austria. 3 Austria is the first in Austria to offer its customers so called "HD Mobile TV" based on the H.264 encoding standard, and won IIR telcon awards for their eBay and X-Series Gold offerings. 3 Austria won a DVB-H license and launched the service in June 2008, with three devices and free usage of Mobile TV. In September 2010 – The number of 1 million customers were exceeded. In November 2011 – 3 Austria launched HD Voice and LTE In January 2012, 3 Austria announced its national roaming agreement with T-Mobile, which will introduce from July 2012. Customers of 3 Austria will be able to roam on T-Mobile's GSM-network where 3's GSM-network is not available. Simultaneous clients of T-Mobile will be able to roam on 3's UMTS-network where T-Mobile's UMTS-network is not available. The roaming agreement with A1 will be continued parallel until year-end. On 3 February 2012 Hutchison Whampoa announced that it had bought Orange Austria for US$1.7 billion, from France Télécom which owned a 35% stake, and private equity firm Mid Europa Partners, which held the remaining 65%. The combined business will create a mobile carrier with 2.8 million customers and more than 20 percent market share in Austria. JPMorgan Chase advised Hutchison on the deal, while Morgan Stanley advised France Télécom and Mid Europa Partners.

Denmark and Sweden

3 Denmark and 3 Sweden have a common network covering most of the two countries. Customers are "at home" on both networks, i.e. Danish customer receive calls from Denmark without paying roaming fees when they are on 3 Sweden's network and it does not cost extra to call Danish telephone numbers. 3 Scandinavia also previously had a license to build a network in Norway, but in 2011 decided against launching a 3G network in Norway. In 2008 both operations showed a positive EBITDA. In Sweden the mobile network is shared with Telenor, except for cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Lund and Karlskrona where they handle their own 3G networks, but this practise is not allowed in Denmark. In the spring 2011 3 started, without Telenor, to build their own 3G Network on the UMTS 900-band which will give a bigger coverage. UMTS 900 and LTE 800 is rolled out using the same base stations. Today 3 Sweden covers about 98.5% of the Swedish population. In May 2012, 3 Sweden launched it first LTE services. It uses the TDD2600, FDD2600 and FDD800 bands. According to ZTE, this is the world's first LTE network to use both FDD and TDD at the same time. At the beginning of 2014, 3 Sweden was Sweden's fastest growing mobile operator. 3 Sweden also operates its own lower-cost flanker brand Hallon, launched in 2013.
3 Denmark has "3 LIKE HOME" including country such as
Ownership:
Three Ireland has a licence for operation in Ireland using the access code 083. The service was launched on 26 July 2005 as Ireland's fourth mobile network operator behind Vodafone, O2 and Meteor. 3's coverage is made up of a single 2,100 MHz band UMTS network, with claims of 96% population coverage and 500,000 subscribers. A roaming agreement with Vodafone provides GSM coverage where no UMTS signal is available. Service was initially offered as post-paid only, but on 16 May 2006 the introduction of a pre-paid service, known as 3Pay, was announced. A pre-paid mobile broadband service was launched on 29 February 2008 under the name 3Pay Broadband, with vouchers available for durations of one day, one week, or one month. On 13 May 2010, Three Ireland announced the launch of the world's first commercial voice and data I-HSPA network. In July 2012, Three Ireland announced a strategic partnership with Vodafone Ireland to share network infrastructure. This facilitated rapid rollout of Three's 4G network, while also making it less costly. When a Three user has a 2G or Edge connection, they are using Vodafone's 2G network, as Three is a 3G/HSDPA network only. In November 2012 the company was awarded LTE spectrum by auction, along with the three other incumbent network operators. On 24 June 2013, it was announced that Hutchison would acquire Telefónica's Irish mobile operations, O2, for €780 million, to be merged into Three Ireland upon completion of the deal. On 27 January 2014, Three launched their 4G network in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Wexford and Waterford. In March 2014, Three expanded their 4G coverage to Ashbourne, Bray, Carlow, Dunmore East, Kilkenny, Leixlip, Lusk, Rush, Skerries, Swords and Tullamore. As of October 2015, after merging with O2 Ireland, Three Ireland had over 2 million subscribers.

Italy

3 Italia was founded in November 1999 and controlled by Sardinian internet company Tiscali and Franco Bernabè. It was the first mobile operator to offer 3G services, launched in March 2003. As of March 2010, 3 Italia had 9 million registered customers. It had a roaming agreement with TIM which allowed its customers to get a 2G service when they moved out of 3G coverage, allowing 3 to offer coverage to up to 99.8% of the population on 2G service. On 22 February 2006, 3 announced the first launch of HSDPA technology in Italy, marketed as ADSM. On 14 May 2006, 3 was the first in Italy to launch Digital Mobile TV using DVB-H technology. From June 2008 to November 2011, 3 Italy offered free of charge the viewing of Rai 1, Rai 2, Canale 5, Italia 1, Rete 4, SKY Meteo24, Current TV and La7 television channels with DVB-H technology.
In 2015, CK Hutchison and VimpelCom agreed to merge their telecommunications businesses in Italy – 3 Italia and WIND – and this was completed in December 2016. The resulting company, 50% owned by each partner, rebranded as Wind Tre and had around 31 million mobile customers at the start of 2017, making it the country's largest mobile operator. In 2018, CK Hutchison acquired the 50% stake owned by VEON, to gain 100% ownership of Wind Tre. In the Italian market, services are now offered under the unified brand "WINDTRE", officially unveiled on March 6 and commercially launched on 16 March 2020.

United Kingdom

Three UK launched as the UK's first commercial video mobile network on 3 March 2003, the day that 3G services went live across the country, and handsets went on sale later that month. On 9 December 2004, Three announced that it was the first network to meet its regulatory requirement of 80% population coverage in the UK.
Three operates 3G, 4G and 5G services, and maintains a national roaming agreement with EE to provide 2G services where 3G is unavailable. 2G fallback coverage was largely dropped as 3G became ubiquitous.
On 24 March 2015, Three announced its intention to acquire the UK operations of Spanish operator O2 for £10.25 billion but a year later, the EU commission blocked the takeover.
Three's first retail stores opened at the same time as the network launched, in London's Oxford Street and High Street Kensington, and at the Birmingham Mailbox. Three's handsets and contracts are also sold by mobile telephony chains and independents throughout the UK, as well as online retailers. In 2005, an expansion of the 3Store portfolio saw stores opened in larger malls throughout the UK, such as the Bluewater shopping centre, and The Mall at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol. On 24 October 2006, Three announced that it had purchased 95 high street shops from O2 and The Link. Three's UK division is owned entirely by CK Hutchison Holdings.

Past 3-branded networks

Australia

Hutchison launched the Three network in Australia in 2003, via its majority ownership of Hutchison Telecommunications Limited. It operated a 2,100 MHz 3G network in a 50/50 partnership with Telstra, covering approximately 56% of Australia's population. The 3G network covered Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, the Gold Coast, Canberra, Geelong, Frankston and Wollongong.
On 9 February 2009, HTAL and Vodafone announced that they would be merging their Australian operations into a 50–50 joint venture called VHA Pty Ltd. All products and services offered by VHA would be marketed under the Vodafone brand. The merger was approved by shareholders and regulators on 29 May 2009, and Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Ltd was established in June 2009. The Three and Vodafone networks remained separate until August 2009. Vodafone phased out the Three brand from late 2011 onwards. No new registrations to the Three brand were made after this time, and from 30 August 2013, all Three Mobile systems and accounts were closed.
Hutchison formerly operated an Australian CDMA network under the Orange brand name, as Orange One. It allowed customers to use their 3 Branded CDMA mobile phone as a Home phone when at home. Calls made from their mobile were charged at rates similar to those of a Landline. Customers also received a "Local Zone " number allowing them to be called on a Landline number whilst at home. Should the phone be out of the Local zone, Calls made to the landline number either diverted to the Mobile number at a small fee, or was directed to Voicemail on the mobile handset. These plans started at a very competitive price of $10.00 per month, and local calls from the local Zone to a local landline was charged at 20c per local call, making their service cheaper than those of Telstra or Optus. The Orange One network was not as vast as others, and so Orange made arrangements with Telstra to allow the services of Orange One devices to roam to the Telstra network. On 1 February 2006, it was rebranded as 3 CDMA, and this network was closed as of 9 August 2006. 3 CDMA customers were offered special tariffs and incentives to continue as customers on the 3G network, all customers either moved over to 3's 3G network or to other network providers.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia is owned by:
CountryFrequencyProtocolClass
Austria900 MHzGSM/GPRS/EDGE2G
Austria1800 MHzGSM/GPRS/EDGE2G
Austria2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Austria900 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Austria1800 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Austria2100 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Austria2600 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Austria2600 MHzTDD-LTE4G
Denmark900 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Denmark2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Denmark1800 MHzLTE4G
Denmark2600 MHzLTE4G
Sweden900 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Sweden2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Sweden800 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Sweden2600 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Sweden2600 MHzTDD-LTE4G
Hong Kong900 MHzGSM/GPRS/EDGE2G
Hong Kong1800 MHzGSM/GPRS/EDGE2G
Hong Kong900 MHzUMTS/HSPA3G
Hong Kong2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA3G
Hong Kong1800 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Hong Kong2300 MHzTDD-LTE4G
Hong Kong2600 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Indonesia1800 MHzGSM/GPRS/EDGE2G
Indonesia2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA3G
Indonesia1800 MHzLTE4G
Ireland900 MHzUMTS/HSPA3G
Ireland2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA3G
Ireland1800 MHzLTE4G
Italy900 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+3G
Italy2100 MHzUMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
Italy1800 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Italy2600 MHzFDD-LTE4G
Italy2600 MHzTDD-LTE4G
UK2100 MHzUMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+3G
UK800 MHzLTE4G
UK1500 MHzLTE4G
UK1800 MHzLTE4G
UK2100 MHzLTE4G
UK3500 MHzLTE5G
UK3700 MHzLTE5G

Services

Internet access

Like other mobile-provider Internet home pages, 3's portal is 'free to browse' for some content in most 3 countries including Ireland, UK and Australia in most price plans; the user pays a fixed price for each video, text or application downloaded.
Besides that, 3 UK and also 3 Ireland initially made the decision to block direct Internet access from handsets, while 3 Austria allowed access to the Internet since the beginning.
In 2004, 3 released a PC Card 3G Data Card for Windows-based laptops which allows Internet access through 3's network directly from the computer, accompanied by a range of data and business tariffs. Later, more cards and USB modems for HSDPA were introduced.

3 Skypephones and Skype on 3

In November 2007, 3 started to sell the Skypephone, which was developed in conjunction with the Chinese phone manufacturer Amoi and Skype, combining the functionality of a UMTS handset with free voice calls and instant messages from Skype. The phones were sold exclusively by 3 on contract and on a prepaid basis.
3 also produced an application called "Skype on 3" which brought the same functionality to S60 and J2ME-capable phones. Unlike the non-3 versions of mobile Skype, "Skype on 3" does not use the phone's data connection for voice calls, but instead places a normal phone call to a special number which 3 make available for this service. 3 does not charge users for calls to this number. This service is available in Australia, Ireland and the UK; it has been discontinued in Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy and Sweden. A company called iSkoot was behind at least some of the clients and back-end servers but iSkoot announced a shutdown scheduled for 20 January 2011. It appears this shutdown initially affected the J2ME version and some Skypephones, but some S60 versions were not affected. Skype have started sending emails indicating the Skype on 3 service will be terminated on 30 September 2014, in spite of Three's original "free for life" advertising. The recommended clients for smartphones will use the phone's data connection which may be liable to charges, instead of the dedicated access number used by the client, which was free to call.

Roaming packages

In February 2007, 3 introduced '3 Like Home', a service that in theory allows subscribers to use any 3-branded network without having to pay additional roaming charges, instead paying the same amount for voice, data, and messaging services as they would do on their home network. This also allows users to use their free or inclusive bundles and allowances while abroad. However, pre-pay customers do not benefit fully, as they cannot use each 3 branded network for '3 Like Home'.
This arrangement is possible because of the roaming agreements between the networks, which provide service to other partners' customers free of internal roaming charges. This means that the marginal cost of a roaming call is much the same as a call on the home network.