- published: 11 Mar 2015
- views: 12847
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 2002.
Hutchison Whampoa owns direct majority interests in the companies that operate the networks that are branded 3, except 3 Hong Kong and 3 Indonesia. These networks are majority-owned by the publicly listed Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited (HTIL), in which Hutchison Whampoa has a 50.003 percent majority interest.
All 3-branded networks provide 3G technology (WCDMA, some also run 2G networks). Hutchison Whampoa no longer holds a 3G license in Israel which was operated under the brand Orange, and in Norway which is not operational yet. As of 4 August 2010, registered 3 customers worldwide numbered over 27.8 million.
Like other mobile-provider Internet homepages, 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.