3 Claims 2 Million Subscribers in Italy

November 28, 2004

Hutchison's Italian mobile operator, 3, has announced that it has amassed 2 million customers, as of the end of last month. The news underlines the speed at which the Italian operator is growing compared to its UK counterpart. In July of this year, 3 in Italy boasted that it had passed its first major milestone when it signed up its one millionth customer. Now, within four months, it has managed to double this figure.

Few analysts doubt that the company's roll-out has been impressive. Having installed 2,200 base stations in 2002, a further 2,100 last year and finally 1,300 more, so far, this year, 3 can now offer coverage of 70% of the Italian population. This equates to 40 million potential customers in 1,250 cities. According to 3 the coverage figure is due to increase to 75% by the end of 2004.

The company is uniquely offering 5,000 hours of "made for mobile" TV video sessions a month. According to the company the number of minutes that the public have watched using their mobile handsets has trebled in the last four months to 6.6 million.