industry mobile telecommunications broadband internet access founded 3 march 2003 ; 13 years ago 2003 03 03 headquarters maidenhead berkshire united kingdom key people david dyson ceo parent hutchison whampoa website www.three.co.uk three uk is a telecommunications and internet service provider operating in the united kingdom as a subsidiary of hutchison whampoa . the company launched in march 2003 as the uk s first commercial video mobile network . it provides 3g and 4g services through its own network infrastructure . contents 1 history 2 network 2.1 4g 2.2 international access 2.3 radio frequency 3 references 4 external links history edit the three mobile service was launched in the uk on 3 march 2003 03 03 03 for publicity purposes 1 with handsets going on sale later that month . this made three the uk s first commercial video mobile network . on 9 december 2004 three announced that it was the first network to meet its regulatory requirement of 80 % population coverage in the uk . 2 a 3 store in banbury england three s first retail stores 3store opened at the same time as the network launched on oxford street and high street kensington both in london 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 shopping centres throughout the uk such as the bluewater and the mall at cribbs causeway near bristol . 3 on 24 october 2006 three announced that it had purchased 95 high street shops from o2 and the link . 4 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 . 5 in 2010 three became the fourth network to launch the iphone after o2 orange and vodafone 6 and was voted best network for mobile broadband in a yougov survey for the second year in a row . 7 in july 2014 three introduced three intouch app 8 enabling three customers within the uk to route calls and text messages via a local wi fi network where the three mobile signal is intermittent or unavailable . the initial registration of the app requires a connection to the three mobile network for authentication after which customers can utilise any connected wi fi network . since three customers can access the virgin wi fi network implemented at over 130 london underground stations 9 three intouch app permits voice data and text messaging to continue without loss of service . currently the intouch app does not perform a handover between wi fi and mobile networks thus a call in progress via wi fi will be dropped if the user moves out of signal range regardless of whether a usable mobile network is available . on 24 march 2015 three s parent company hutchison whampoa announced it would acquire the uk operations of o2 for 10.25 billion subject to regulatory approval . 10 network edit 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 . until 2006 o2 11 operated this service for three customers . however orange was selected as the new national roaming partner from 10 may 2006 . 11 since three invested heavily in 3g technology since its inception and wanted to run a 3g only service which in turn would make infrastructure costs cheaper which could be passed onto the consumer it was criticised in the early days for offering a very patchy 2g service in favour of 3g when 3g had not fully caught on enough to achieve mass adoption and orange 2g was adopted in areas as a fallback where 3g wasn t available . the 2g fallback coverage provided by orange has since been removed as three believes 3g and 4g technology is now sufficient enough for mass adoption and as a result older phones that support only 2g networks are not compatible with the three network . 12 from 2013 three no longer provided 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 . 13 on 12 november 2010 mbnl announced that the network had reached a total of 12 000 combined sites . 14 4g edit three s 4g ready logo three began a limited rollout of 4g lte services in december 2013 in london birmingham manchester and reading 15 expanding to over a further 450 locations by the end of 2014 . 16 17 in august 2012 three was given permission to use part of the 1 800 mhz spectrum used by ee s 4g network . 18 on 20 february 2013 ofcom announced that three had been awarded 2 x 5 mhz of 800 mhz to use for its 4g rollout . 19 three planned to launch 4g in the second quarter of 2013 however it delayed the rollout until q4 saying that it wanted to analyse the performance of other networks 4g coverage first . 20 the network provides lte and dc hsdpa service as a standard feature to all its subscribers using ultrafast to describe both technologies making it the cheapest price for 4g and the only unlimited 4g in the uk . 21 22 on 23 april 2015 three announced that volte would be rolled out along with 800 mhz spectrum from september . 23 international access edit 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 . 24 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 consume the same amount of purchased airtime minutes as for communication within the uk . since then additional countries have been added to feel at home including finland france indonesia israel macau new zealand norway spain sri lanka switzerland and the usa . 25 this does not include calling from the uk to these or other countries . fees can reach 46p per minute for calling most european countries from the uk . 26 radio frequency edit frequencies used on the three uk network frequency protocol class 2100 mhz umts hsdpa hspa dc hspa 3g 800 mhz lte 27 4g 1800 mhz lte 17 4g references edit 3g goes live in the uk . bbc news . 3 march 2003 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . 3 first to hit regulatory requirement for 3g coverage press release . 9 december 2004 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . 3 brings next generation of mobile stores to life press release . 18 november 2005 . retrieved 25 february 2005 . 3 acquires 95 prime location stores from the link and o2 press release . 24 october 2006 . retrieved 25 february 2011 . people s channel seemetv tops 4 million downloads press release . 8 march 2006 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . three uk will launch iphone 4 . press release . three uk . 10 june 2010 . retrieved 22 february 2012 . parker joe . three tops latest independent yougov survey . blog.three.co.uk . retrieved 18 november 2012 . three intouch . three uk . retrieved 1 may 2015 . free wi fi on london underground . three uk . retrieved 1 may 2015 . telefonica finalises 10bn sale of o2 mobile phone firm . bbc news . 24 march 2015 . retrieved 24 march 2015 . a b 3 selects orange as new national roaming partner press release . 10 may 2006 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . 3 starts killing off 2g coverage . 8 november 2010 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . t mobile and 3 create britain s largest 3g network pdf press release . 18 december 2007 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . three and everything everywhere joint venturereaches 12 000 shared 3g sites pdf press release . 12 november 2010 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . orlowski andrew 5 december 2013 . three offers free us roaming confirms stealth 4g rollout . the register . retrieved 6 december 2013 . when will i get 4g . three . retrieved 30 april 2015 . a b woods ben 28 august 2013 . three finally unveils 4g rollout plans the stage is now set for uk s 4g future . the next web . retrieved 28 august 2013 . 4g timetable agreed by uk mobile network operators . bbc news . 2 october 2012 . ofcom announces winners of the 4g mobile auction . ofcom . 20 february 2013 . retrieved 28 august 2013 . three uk delays 4g mobile broadband launch to q4 2013 . retrieved 31 march 2013 . get ready for 4g at no extra cost . three uk . retrieved 6 december 2013 . three to offer latest technology as standard with no price premium press release . three uk . 4 february 2013 . retrieved 4 february 2013 . volte comes to three . three uk . 23 april 2015 . retrieved 1 may 2015 . 3 has no place like home . 20 may 2009 . retrieved 25 february 2012 . feel at home . . three uk . 15 october 2014 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . calling and texting abroad from the uk . three uk . 22 august 2016 . retrieved 22 august 2016 . three super voice . three uk . 15 september 2015 . retrieved 18 october 2015 . external links edit official website v t e telecommunications industry in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom science and technology in the united kingdom companies infrastructure providers arqiva babcock international bt wholesale openreach interxion telecitygroup telehouse europe service providers current andrews & arnold asda mobile bt group bt global services bt business bt consumer ee plusnet claranet colt group the co operative cable & wireless communications delight mobile family mobile inmarsat kcom group eclipse internet lebara mobile lycamobile mapesbury communications o2 uk giffgaff origin broadband sky sky broadband talkmobile talktalk group aol broadband talktalk business talktalk mobile talktalk tv telecom plus tesco mobile three tru virgin media virgin media business virgin mobile uk vodafone vodafone uk voipfone wightfibre zen internet defunct atlantic telegraph company be un limited bonelli s electric telegraph company cable & wireless plc cable & wireless worldwide dolphin telecom electric telegraph company energis general post office ionica london and provincial district telegraph company mercury communications mobile by sainsbury s national telephone company ntl ovivo post office telecommunications pipex priyo mobile rabbit stan mobile tiscali uk universal private telegraph company suppliers current arm holdings artevea csr icera metaswitch pace sarantel spirent telent defunct gec plessey telecommunications marconi company marconi communications picochip standard telephones and cables other carphone warehouse hibu phones 4u dial a phone government and regulatory bodies broadband stakeholder group defence science and technology laboratory european conference of postal and telecommunications administrations international telecommunication union ofcom phonepayplus industry bodies gsm association internet service providers association lonap london internet exchange manap symbian foundation internet telephony services providers association other adastral park british approvals board for telecommunications british telecommunications act 1981 british telephone sockets bt research bt site engineering code communications act 2003 earth stations in