The fourth mobile phone operator in Ireland, 3, entered the market yesterday pledging to offer consumers much better value and service than existing companies.
3, which is owned by the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, is using the 083 prefix for its service, which is launching with 99 per cent population coverage for voice and text services.
The company, which specialises in third generation (3G) technology, can currently offer its range of video services in major cities such as Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway.
It plans to extend its 3G network to cover transport routes and other towns and cities in the next few years. 3G is a new type of technology that transmits data at very high speed to mobile handsets, enabling consumers to download and access a range of video, music and multimedia services.
3, which has eight million customers across several markets in Europe and Asia, is initially targeting the bill-pay sector of the Irish market, with three tariff packages aimed at people who use their mobiles relatively often.
3's entry level tariff of €25 per month entitles consumers to a choice of either 200 voice minutes or a bundle of 100 voice minutes and 100 text messages.People who send a lot of text messages could also choose a text option of 300 text messages.
The firm is offering 3G handsets at prices from €19 to €239.
3 is also offering a wide range of 3G content, such as premiership goals, comedy clips and RTÉ news clips, free to its customers.
In comparison, Vodafone - the only other operator in the Republic to launch 3G services so far - charges for many of the video content services it offers.
Bob Fuller, chief executive of 3 in Britain, said the firm would bring much needed choice to the Irish market, which until now had suffered from a lack of competition.
Mr Fuller would not comment on when 3 plans to launch prepay services, although most analysts expect it to offer this type of mobile service before Christmas.
More than 70 per cent of Irish people use prepay services rather than postpaid contracts.
3's services initially will be available from its website at www.3ireland.ie and the retail chains Carphone Warehouse and 3G. It is also expected to launch its own retail shops in the future.
The firm says it will offer dissatisfied consumers a no-quibble money-back guarantee within 14 days of buying a phone. It will replace faulty phones by courier without charge and offer replacements for lost phones for €50.
Consumers who want to subscribe to 3's mobile service must sign up for a 12 month contract.
Its 3G competitor Vodafone said yesterday that an itemised bill from 3 costs an additional €1.50 per month. Customers who do not pay by direct debit must pay an extra €4.50 per month.
