PR releases

Get paid to receive mobile calls and texts with 3 Pay As You Go

 It pays to be popular as 3 launches revolutionary concept

London - 24 January 2006 - 3, the UK's leading mobile media company, is shaking up the mobile market yet again with the launch of a revolutionary new tariff that, for the first time, pays customers to receive calls and texts.

 The new pay-as-you-go price service from 3 - called 'WePay' - will see customers rewarded with a cash credit for calls and texts they receive. So with 5p for every full minute of a call and 2p per text received, it really does pay to be popular on 3.

 Customers claim their cash credit each time they purchase a new WePay Top-up voucher - the credit can then be used to purchase any 3 services, from texts and calls to buying music tracks and watching TV on their mobiles.

 For example, when a customer receives a five-minute call, they earn enough credit to send two texts, or send a picture message or watch the highlights from two episodes of Coronation Street.

 Graeme Oxby, 3's Marketing Director, explains: “It pays to be popular. Anyone who regularly receives calls and texts could end up much better off by moving to 3. You pick up, we pay up; it's as simple as that.

“The introduction of WePay means we've raised the bar on rewarding loyal PAYG customers and at the same time created a way for everyone to enjoy music and TV on their mobile."

 WePay is the next development in 3's mission to bring better value to UK mobile users. The pre-pay market is notoriously complicated with a plethora of tariffs and special offers.

 In response, consumers have had to adopt increasingly sophisticated strategies to find the best value, from only using their mobiles off-peak to owning several different handsets on a variety of networks and tariffs. Continental Research's Autumn 2005 Mobile Report suggests that as many as 5.9 million consumers in the UK now carry more than one phone.

 3 devised WePay, in combination with low outbound call and text rates and the largest range of 3G handsets available on pay-as-you-go, to create a compelling reason for consumers who make and receive a lot of calls and messages to move to 3, port their number and use 3 as their only network.

 It currently takes at least seven days to port your number in the UK, whereas in other countries such as Ireland and Pakistan, it takes just a couple of hours.

 Graeme Oxby, Marketing Director of 3, comments: “Because the process can be slow, only a fraction of people on PAYG port their number when they get a new phone. Our new reward for picking up calls and texts makes it worthwhile for consumers to move their number.”

 As part of its new Pay-as-you-go service, 3 will also launch a range of stylish new handsets designed by fashion designer Roberto Cavalli for its PAYG customers.

 The WePay tariff is available from 1 February 2006.

 How it works…<1/> A customer on WePay who receives 100 minutes of calls and 50 texts a month will earn £6.00 credit. He or she can claim their cash credit when they purchase a new WePay Top-up, and the credit can then be used to purchase any 3 services.

 WePay cash credits are valid for 30 days.

 As soon as a Top-up is purchased the 3 customer has 30 days to generate as many calls and texts as possible in order to earn maximum cash credits again.

Notes:<1/>66% of the UK market is on PAYG. (Continental Research, Autumn 2005)<1/> The average person has 82 phone numbers stored in their handset.<1/> WePay is available to new and existing PAYG customers.<1/> 3 also offer each new PAYG customer a £10 cash credit to port their number. Ofcom recently consulted on the UK's solution for mobile number portability, a solution which has been in place since 1999.

WePay prices<1/>The new WePay top-ups are easy to understand, all-cash vouchers available in £10, £15 and £20 denominations, with no expiry date.

 o 5p per minute cash credit for each minute of calls received<1/> o 2p per text for texts received<1/> o 10p a minute to call a 3 mobile anytime<1/> o 30p a minute to other networks anytime<1/> o 15p a minute to landlines and non-geographic numbers anytime<1/> o 10p per text to any network<1/> o 25p for a picture message to any network<1/> o 50p per video message to any network

 3's PAYG customers now will be able to choose WePay cash vouchers or opt for a monthly bundle of calls or texts.

 Calls from non-3 customers calling from abroad and 3 Customer Services do not earn WePay cash credits.

Content prices

<1/>Music<1/> o £1.50 per download of a full length music video / audio track<1/> o 50p per download of Pete Tong's Fasttraxx and Zane Lowe's Revolution programmes

 Sport<1/> o 50p per match for game highlights including goals - all delivered at 5.15pm on Saturdays and 5 minutes after the final whistle for matches played on other days

 Mobile TV<1/> o 10p per Coronation Street clip<1/> o £1.00 to access the latest TV show clips, highlights or catch ups - 20 times in 24 hours

 Games<1/> o 50p to rent the latest game for 3 days<1/> o 50p to join friends and play a multi-player game

About 3

<1/>3 is a mobile media company delivering a convergence of communications, entertainment and information to customers on the move.

 The three areas which form the core of its business are:<1/> o Communications - including all forms of personal communications, voice and video calling; text, picture and video messaging; and mobile blogging<1/> o Entertainment - including television, music audio and video, computer games, and media publishing<1/> o Information services - including wireless web, access to the best of the internet and a range of news services

 3 UK is a member of the HWL group of 3G companies, which include 3G operations in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy and Sweden.

Three facts about 3<1/>o 3, a mobile media company, launched the UK's first 3G network<1/> o 3 has over 3.2 million customers (August 2005 figure) in the UK and over 10 million worldwide<1/> o The 3 network offers national coverage for calls and texts, and over 86% population coverage for 3G services

<1/>-WEPAY: ALL THE FACTS-

3's new WePay tariff is set to transform the PAYG market… and here's why:

WePay - The Tariff:<1/>For the first time ever, customers will be able to benefit from 3's industry beating low call rates, the widest range of state of the art handsets and an exciting new reward scheme which pays cash to receive mobile calls and texts.

Rewards - You Pick Up - We Pay Up:<1/>Customers will receive a 5p cash credit for each full minute of a call and 2p for texts.  That means the average consumer stands to earn around £3.50 per month or £42 a year - and much more if they're very popular!<1/>Customers will be able to claim their cash credits each time they purchase a new WePay Top-up.

A New Breed - Tariff-Maticians:<1/>Over the past 4 years the mobile phone market has been through some radical changes - including the launch of 3G technology, more operators, better deals and cheaper calls for customers.  Through all these changes a new breed of young savvy deal hunters has emerged dubbed 'Tariff-Maticians'.

Predominantly aged 16 to 24, these young deal hunters constantly monitor the mobile market place to ensure they take advantage of the best deals and will carry up to four phones on different networks. For the first time, WePay offers these value-savvy customers a compelling reason to port their number and use 3 as their only network.

Pioneering Best Value:<1/>3 has a history of offering customers the best deals in the market place.  When 3 first launched ThreePay, the brand's PAYG service, it was the first network not to charge those customers higher rates than contract customers.

<1/>Mobile Phone Market - A Brief Look Back:

-1979:  First cellular phones in Japan<1/>-1985:  'Mobile phones' with 20Kg batteries launched  in UK<1/>-1991:          GSM (2G) digital mobile standard agreed<1/>-1994:  SMS text messaging arrives<1/>-1998:          PAYG phones introduced in the UK<1/>-2003:          3 launches first 3G network in March<1/>-2004:  ThreePay PAYG - 3 is the first network to offer PAYG calls / text for the same price as contract

-2005:  WePay - 3 launches revolutionary PAYG tariff - for the first time ever customers get paid for receiving calls and texts