Both 3 and T-mobile have struggled to compete with the big guns of O2 and Vodafone. 3 in particular has found it difficult to gain a large market share due to consumer concerns about its coverage. So it’s no surprise to hear that T-mobile and 3 and going to join forces in an attempt to increase their coverage without increasing their costs. They plan to merge their network, effectively filling gaps in their coverage. It is claimed that the deal will save both companies about £1 billion due to the fact they no longer have to set-up and install costly mobile phone masts in lots of new areas.

By joining forces they hope to massively increase their coverage, reduce costs and give them a fighting chance against the likes of Vodafone and O2. The deal means that 3 and T-mobile now have the Europe’s largest HSDPA network.

The two companies will continue to operate independently with neither owning the other; in fact they will still be fierce rivals. They will only be sharing their 3G networks.

The first full VoIP mobile phone (3SkypePhone) has only just been launched but already a professional research agency is forecasting that there will be 250 million users of 3G VoIP by 2012, compared with less than 100 million for voice on Wi-Fi. Considering how new VoIP on 3G is it strange to think that it will be more popular than VoIP via Wi-Fi. (more…)

3 still hasn’t officially confirmed the partnership yet, but its been one of the worst kept secrets in the mobile phone industry. The deal will mean that 3 will sell Skype’s first mobile phone. Timescales haven’t been released but it expected to be live available before Christmas.

A Skype spokesman said that 3 and Skype “are working together on (more…)

The mobile phone network 3 UK have announced that more 33% of their 3 million UK customers customers have registered to use its free-to-access mobile video service. The new service allows mobile-phone users to watch entertainment, news and music clips on their own mobile phone. The content is free once the user has watched a short advertisement. The service is powered by Rhythm NewMedia

Rhythm NewMedia offers turnkey mobile advertising solutions, including (more…)

In a move which was prompted by a change in the European laws regarding mobile phone roaming charges, 3 have stolen a major march on their competitors by announcing price reductions above and beyond what the EU regulators requested. They have announced plans to cut phone charges for those travelling to EU countries, to just (more…)

While mobile handset broadband is still some way off for the masses, 3 have taken a step in the right direction with the introduction of a mobile broadband service for use on laptops and home computers. In what many see as a stepping stone towards the introduction of a fully mobile handset broadband service in due course, 3 have cleverly begun to (more…)

While recent events, publicity and general feeling in the UK have been leaning towards a period of greater investment into the 3 network by parent company Hutchinson Whampoa, these impressions were cast into doubt last night with news that the company’s Italian division, 3 Italia, is up for sale. While Hutchinson have always expressed an interest in hiving off the Italian arm of the network (narrowly failing to float the business on the Italian stock market in 2006), what does this mean for the future? (more…)