'3' signs National Roaming agreement with Vodafone Ireland
Irish mobile market to become even more competitive
Dublin - 3 Ireland, the new video mobile network, today announced that it has signed a national roaming agreement with Vodafone Ireland, Ireland's leading mobile operator.
The agreement will give 3's customers full access to Vodafone Ireland's GSM (or 2G) network, ensuring that 3's customers will have the same level of national coverage as Vodafone Ireland's GSM customers.
Under the terms of the agreement, when 3's customers are outside areas covered by 3's video mobile network they will seamlessly roam onto Vodafone's GSM network, where they will be able to continue to make and receive voice calls, send and receive text and multi-media messages, and access GPRS data services.
The agreement between Vodafone Ireland and 3 incorporates Vodafone's GSM (2G) network only. 3 will have its own 3G network, and as such its customers will not need to have access to Vodafone's 3G network. 3's customers will have no contractual relationship with Vodafone Ireland, and all customer matters, including billing, will be managed by 3.
Mark Rigby, Corporate Affairs Director for 3 UK said: "When this service is implemented next year, it will ensure that 3's customers have the same level of national coverage for voice and data services as Vodafone Ireland's GSM customers. In addition, 3's customers will able to access exciting new 3G services when inside our 3G coverage areas."
Speaking about the announcement, Paul Donovan, CEO, Vodafone Ireland said: "Vodafone offers the best network coverage in Ireland so our proposition is very attractive to 3. Our company has consistently invested more in its network than any other mobile operator in Ireland so it makes sense that 3 chose Vodafone Ireland as its roaming partner. The commercial agreement between 3 and Vodafone Ireland will deliver even further competition into the Irish marketplace and further stimulate the introduction of innovative services."
The commercial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
About 3 Ireland
3 Ireland (otherwise known as Hutchison 3G Ireland Limited) is owned by the Hutchison Whampoa Group which also holds 3G licences in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the UK. In these markets it offers 3G services under the 3 brand.
Apart from telecoms, the Group also has operations in ports, retail, hotels, property development, energy and infrastructure.
About Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone is Ireland's leading mobile phone operator with a base of 1.89 million customers and a total of 1,500 employees. Vodafone holds 54% of the market share in Ireland. On May 11, 2001 the Irish company officially became a subsidiary of the Vodafone Group plc, the largest mobile telecommunications company in the world. The Vodafone Group has equity interests in 26 countries across 5 continents, and partner networks in a further 13 countries, serving over 146.7 million customers worldwide.