Hutchison 3G UK Limited, trading as Three UK, is a British telecommunications company based in Reading, England. It is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, a limited liability Cayman Islands company registered and listed in Hong Kong.[4] Three is the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with about 10.9million subscribers as of November 2024[update].[5]
The company was launched on 3 March 2003 as the UK's first commercial 100% 3G network. It provides 3G, 4G and 5G services through its own network infrastructure.
The Three mobile service was launched in the UK on 3 March 2003,[6] with handsets going on sale later that year. Three was the UK's first commercial video mobile (3G) network.[7]
Three was the first network to meet its regulatory requirement of 80% population coverage in the UK, meeting this by 9 December 2004.[8]
Three's first retail shops, called 3Store, opened at the same time as the network launched, on Oxford Street and Kensington High Street, both in London, and at the Birmingham Mailbox. Three also sold handsets, devices and contracts through independent and online retailers at the time. In 2005, Three expanded, and stores opened in larger shopping centres throughout the UK.[9] On 24 October 2006, Three announced that it had purchased 95 high street shops from O2 and The Link.[10]
Three launched SeeMeTV, allowing its customers to submit their own video content that other subscribers could watch. Users would make a small micropayment (the price decided by the video's creator) to watch these videos. The user who created the videos would get paid 10% of the amount of money paid by other users to watch the video. Users were paid once they had accrued £10.[11]
In 2010, Three became the fourth network in the UK to launch the iPhone 4 after O2, Orange and Vodafone.[12]
In July 2014, Three introduced the 3 inTouch app,[13] allowing customers to place calls through a Wi-Fi connection. Three customers can also access the Virgin Wi-Fi network implemented at over 130 London Underground stations.[14]
On 24 March 2015, Three's parent company Hutchison Whampoa announced it intended to acquire the UK operations of rival mobile network O2 for £10.25billion, subject to regulatory approval.[15] On 11 May 2016, EU commission blocked the deal on the grounds that it would affect competition in the UK market.[16][17]
In November 2016, three men were arrested after a data breach at the Three mobile network allowed fraudsters to access personal data and steal phones. The company said that while names and addresses were accessed, some financial information might be compromised. Fraudsters were understood to have used authorised login information to order upgraded phones, including iPhone and Samsung handsets, to be sent to customers before intercepting them. Three, which had 9million customers, said it believed around 400 phones had been stolen.[18]
In early 2020, CEO of Three UK, Dave Dyson, resigned after nine years at the helm. He was replaced by Three Ireland's CEO, Robert Finnegan, who now manages both companies.[19]
Three was the main shirt sponsor of Premier League club Chelsea since the 2020–21 season.[20][21] On 10 March 2022 Three announced it was ending its sponsorship deal with Chelsea immediately, and asked the club to remove the company's logo from its kits.[22]
Network
In order to provide coverage parity with other networks in the UK, Three initially maintained a national roaming agreement with an established 2G network operator. Initially O2[23] operated this service for Three customers. However, Orange was selected as the new national roaming partner from 10 May 2006.[23]
In the early period of the 3G network, Orange 2G (acquired by EE in 2010)[24][25] was adopted in areas as a fallback where 3G wasn't available. In 2010, this 2G fallback coverage began to be removed, meaning older phones that support only 2G lost access to the Three network.[26] From 2013, Three no longer provides a significant 2G fallback for most of the United Kingdom.
On 18 December 2007, T-Mobile and Three launched a 50:50 joint venture called Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL) which aimed to combine both of their 3G networks and provide almost-complete 3G population coverage by the end of 2008.[27] On 12 November 2010, MBNL announced that the network had reached a total of 12,000 combined sites.[28]
In 2022, Three announced its intention to decommission its 3G network by the end of 2024.[29]
4G
Three's 4G Ready logo
Three began a limited rollout of 4G LTE services in December 2013 in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading,[30] expanding to over a further 450 locations by the end of 2014.[31][32] In August 2012, Three was given permission to use part of the 1,800 MHz spectrum used by EE's 4G network.[33] In February 2013, Ofcom announced that Three had been awarded 2 x 5 MHz (10 MHz) of 800 MHz to use for 4G.[34] Three planned to launch 4G in the second quarter of 2013 but it delayed the rollout until Q4, saying that it wanted to analyse the performance of other networks' 4G coverage first.[35] The network provides LTE and DC-HSDPA service as a standard feature to all its subscribers using "Ultrafast" to describe both technologies, making it (at the time) the cheapest price for 4G and the only unlimited 4G in the UK.[36][37] In April 2015, Three announced that VoLTE would be rolled out along with 800 MHz spectrum from September.[38]
Network upgrades
In November 2018, Three UK announced a £2billion investment programme to support the rollout of 5G across its network.[39] This included the acquisition of spectrum for 5G by buying Relish Broadband[40] to gain 40Mhz of spectrum across the 3.4GHz, 3.6GHz and 3.9GHz bands. Furthermore, it involved the creation of a dark fibre network to connect 20 new data centres, alongside deploying carrier aggregation across 2,500 sites, improving performance on 4G.
Roaming at domestic prices
"Go Roam" countries and territories where Three UK customers can roam at UK domestic prices (2021)
Until 2009, Three subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Hong Kong and Australia could use their service on Three networks around the world for no extra charge with "3 Like Home".[41] The service was relaunched on 30 August 2013 as "Feel At Home" for UK customers visiting Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy and Sweden, where calls, texts and data could be consumed without roaming charges; meaning they cost the same as for communication within the UK. Additional countries were subsequently added to "Feel At Home" including Finland, France, Indonesia, Israel, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the United States.[42] The service was expanded to a further 24 European countries in September 2016.[43] Three changed the name of its roaming proposition from "Feel at Home" to "Go Roam", which now covers 59 countries and territories since 2017. Three advertises that the service covers "71 destinations" because it counts several countries more than once. For example, Three counts "Ireland" and "Republic of Ireland" as two destinations, counts Åland in addition to Finland, counts two parts of Spain in addition to Spain, counts two parts of Portugal in addition to Portugal, and counts eight parts of France in addition to France.[44] "Go Roam" only covers roaming, and does not include non-roaming services such as international calls made from the UK.
Despite promising to keep EU roaming free of charge, Three UK changed its terms and conditions in September 2021. Customers acquiring new contracts or updates after that date will no longer have "Go Roam" free of charge. This benefit costs £2 per day for roaming in EU countries (except Ireland) and £5 per day when roaming outside the EU.[45][46]
In 2015, Three UK proposed a £10.2bn merger with O2 UK, which would reduce the number of UK networks from four to three.[53] The deal would involve O2 owner Telefonica selling O2 UK to CK Hutchson (Three UK's owner) for £10.2bn,[54] and would have created the largest mobile network at the time. However, the plan was quickly blocked by the European Commission as it was expected to drive up prices and reduce competition.[55]
In 2023, Vodafone UK struck a deal with Three UK to merge their UK businesses, subject to approval by the competition regulator. The combined company would have 27million customers, which would make them the largest mobile network in the UK, surpassing O2's 24million and EE's 20million.[56] The deal would give Vodafone Group a 51% stake in the new business, with CK Hutchison owning the remaining 49%.[56][57] Consumer group Which? raised concerns that the merger risked lowering the quality of service and increasing prices due to reduced competition.[56] In March 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided that the merger may lessen competition in the United Kingdom,[58] and it was therefore referring the merger to a more detailed 'phase 2' investigation.[58] In December 2024, the CMA approved the merger of Three UK and Vodafone, subject to conditions aimed at protecting consumers. These include commitments to invest £11bn in 5G infrastructure,[59] cap some mobile tariffs, and maintain fixed contract terms for mobile virtual network operators for three years. The CMA and Ofcom will monitor compliance with these conditions.[60]
The deal included an option for Vodafone to buy Hutchison's 49% stake after three years, and The Times reported that Vodafone was expected to exercise the option because Hutchison's Li Ka-shing had stated he did not intend to invest further in the UK.[59]
Unlike Three, which offers telephone support, SMARTY instead opted to only offer live chat, community forums and help pages; the live chat service is provided by Three UK customer support teams.[62] Instead of fixing customers into a contract, SMARTY offers a rolling 30-day contract, allowing customers to cancel at any time. They offer free EU roaming and MMS.[63] Furthermore, SMARTY does not complete credit checks,[64] making it an option for people with a poor credit score. Unlike Three, eSIM is not supported on SMARTY.[65]
From 2019 to 2024, SMARTY won a number of Best PAYG Network and Best Value SIM Only awards from comparison service uSwitch.[66][67][68][69][70]
Awards
In 2010, Three was voted Best Network for Mobile Broadband in a YouGov survey for the second year in a row.[71]
In 2018, Three was awarded Best Network for Roaming and Most Popular Mobile Network at the uSwitch Broadband and Mobile Awards 2018.[72]
In 2019, Three was awarded Best Network for Roaming at the uSwitch Broadband and Mobile Awards 2019.[73]
In 2020, Three was awarded Best Network for Roaming and Most Popular Mobile Network at the uSwitch Broadband and Mobile Awards 2020.[74]
From 2021 to 2024, Three has won four of the six-monthly Speedtest Award for the Fastest 5G Mobile Network.[75][76][77][78]
In 2021, Three was awarded Best Network for Data, Best Network for Roaming, Best SIM Only Network, and Most Popular Mobile Network at the uSwitch Broadband and Mobile Awards.[79]
In 2023, Three was awarded Best Network for Business at the Mobile Industry Awards.[80]
