3 Ireland

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Hutchison 3G Ireland Limited

Type	Private
Founded	2002
Headquarters	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Industry	Mobile telecommunications
Products	Mobile phone services, mobile phone related goods
Parent	Hutchison 3G
Website	three.ie

Hutchison 3G Ireland Limited is a mobile phone company in the Republic of Ireland. It is a subsidiary of Hutchison 3G, and like the other subsidiaries of that company, trades under the brand name "3". It launched services officially on 26 July 2005. It operates a UMTS network, with the STD code 083. When out of coverage, customers are able to roam on the Vodafone Ireland GSM network. On May 16, 2006 3 launched its pre-paid service, 3Pay. [1]

The company currently offers a bill-pay service (starting at €25 per month) and a pre-pay service, recently launched in May 2006 with top-ups ranging from €10-40 in increments of 10. It is making much of its video capabilities, providing free video content, including news from Independent Television News, FA Premier League video clips, and movie trailers. This is in contrast to its only 3G rival, Vodafone live! with 3G, which charges for most of its video content.

On the 15th of October 2006, 3 Ireland announced [2] they would have 28 3stores opened by the end of 2007 and a further 8 opened by the end of 2006, with the first being built in Patrick Street, Cork (which opened on 3 November 2006) and their anchor store in Dublin, as well as a store in Waterford and Limerick on Cruises Street in the city, just off O'Connell Street. A Store in Galway is expected to follow in the near future.

[edit] History

The company holds a UMTS mobile telecommunications licence from the Commission for Communications Regulation, which it was granted in June 2002.

Since then it has began rolling out its network. In 2004, it began testing its network with major corporate clients. In May 2005 it began running commercials on Irish television, fuelling speculation that it was to launch shortly. However, it was not until 26 July 2005 that the network launched and became available to the public.