Press Releases
Related Topics
Press Releases

H3G Italia S.p.A.
Via Leonardo da Vinci, 1
20090 Trezzano sul Naviglio (MI)
Tel: +39 02 44581
www.tre.it

PRESS RELEASE

Milan - March 1st 2004

3 launches "TuaMatic", the pre-paid tariff with the most advantageous auto recharge on the market:
5cent for every minute of received calls from every number. With VideoNoi, Videocalls and Videomessages
to your favorite 3 number for only 5 cent/min.

TuaMatic, Tua Sempre and Tua Bonus renew the Tua formula.
The new phase of the 3 network development starts, with the introduction of the PowerNet function. The new reality show "The Farm" and the launch of "Oggi 3" soon on the 3 Videophones. Available in the shops, starting from today, the brand new NEC e616, in arrival the NEC e313.

From today, the auto recharge formula has a new Italian leader, TuaMatic, the tariff plan that will allow the clients of 3, the Italian Mobile Video Company of the Hutchison Whampoa Group, to auto recharge their own phone credit of 5 cent for every minute of received voice-traffic, up to a maximum of 60 a month.

Only 15 eurocent a minute for the voice calls towards all the national lines, 45 cent/min for the VideoCalls towards 3 numbers and web cams, 15 cent for SMS, 55 cent for MMS and VideoMessages, 4 /MB (+ 60 cent. for the connection) for the FastMobileModem service.

Continuously from March the 1st, until the end of 2004, the subscriber of one of the Tua tariff plans, with the option VideoNoi, will be able to VideoCall a 3 chosen number for only 5 cent/min - less than a voice call - perfect for couples and families who may be living in different cities because of working and studying reasons. Also, VideoMessages and MMS will cost 5 cent if sent to the chosen 3 number.

Amongst the significant news today, there's also the "re-formulation" of the Tua offer tariff plans, even easier and more convenient, with Tua Sempre and Tua Bonus.

In fact, with Tua Sempre, it will be sufficient to spend 39 worth of traffic a month , to get a videophone to use it free of charge : if the threshold is not reached, the client will pay only the difference between the 39 and the generated traffic.

Voice calls towards 3 numbers and fixed line will be rated 10 cent/min, voice calls towards other national mobile providers 25 cent/min, VideoCalls towards 3 numbers and web cams 45 cent/min, SMS at a cost of 15 cent, VideoMessages and MMS at 55 cent, FastMobileModem at 4 /MB (+ 60 cent. for the connection).

Whoever prefers to buy the videophone instead, can subscribe to Tua Bonus Ricaricabile or Abbonamento. He/she will receive a 30 bonus, usable as a recharge or as a phone bill discount, provided that one of those 3 conditions is fulfilled:

  • 30 a month of traffic and 60 min a month of incoming Voice/VideoCalls;
  • or 30 a month of traffic, of which 10 for the 3 Portal services,
  • or 50 of traffic a month.

Tua Bonus Ricaricabile has the same costs of the Tua Sempre tariff plan, Tua Bonus Abbonamento provides instead a cost of 15 cent/min for the Voicecalls towards all the national lines.

The costs of the VideoCalls towards 3 numbers and webcams, SMS, VideoMessagges, MMS and FastMobileModem are the same of the Tua Sempre tariff plan.

For all the calls and national VideoCalls there's a 15 cent set up charge. All the listed prices include IVA.

3 network, in the meanwhile, celebrates in February the first year of its operation, while PowerNet is already on test, thanks to the new software releases 2.1.4 for Ericsson and UMR3.5 for Siemens-NEC.

In less than 12 months, the backbones to connect 3 networks with other networks, have increased from 4 to 8, while 14 are the media gateway that increase the 3 network capacity and flexibility, and 45 the radio network controller (RNC), that rule the radio part of the network. In particular, introducing PowerNet, the number of clients run by every single radio network controller will double from 50 to 100 thousand.

The 4400 antennae realized until now, allowing a coverage equal to 61% of the population and 900 cities, among them all the chief towns of the Regions, Venice and Naples included, even if in those two cities, obstruction by the local administration has not allowed the realization of the necessary number of sites to ensure the quality of the service expected by clients.

Also the home location register (HLR), the size of the databases holding the users' profiles have been doubled. These now handle up to 6 millions clients maximum.

On the contents side, starting from the end of March, until the 8 of June, the new "reality show", "The Farm", will join Big Brother fourth edition on the 3 Videophones. It's the first time in the world that a high audio and video quality television signal is on air on a commercial mobile phone. 14 VIP will compete, between nominations and challenges, with the daily running of a farm (among the female protagonists, Selen and Ela Weber).

Starting from the middle of March, will start "Oggi 3", the service that will send to 185 thousand 3 clients, every day, 7 days a week, two MMS with the 3 coolest contents of the moment, directly downloadable on the Videophone. A total shot of almost 2.6 millions copies a week, that makes the 3 portal one of the most content rich media in the Italian editorial survey.

In the 3 shops from today the brand new videophone NEC e616 at a cost of 645, in the next few days the début of the NEC e313. Combined with the Videophones is the TuttieDue promotion; thanks to this, requiring two Number Mobile Portability, it's possible to buy 2 Videophones at the price of one. 3 clients can buy a NEC e616 and Motorola A835 for only 495 or two Motorola A835 for only 395 .

Finally, Gratis3 is the promotion for new clients that subscribe from the 1st to the 31st of March: starting from the day of subscription, they receive for free for a month the first minute of Videocall towards all the 3 Videophones, the VideoMessages and the download of the 3 Portal contents, with the exception of the subscriptions to the Più Services (for example Videosquadra, VideoChampionsLeague) and TuaTV.

    3 - Is the commercial brand of H3G, the mobile video company in the Italian market. After having won the UMTS license in Italy in November 2000, with the offer of 3.25 billion euros, 3 launched its service at the beginning of March 2003 and aimed for the leadership of the third generation mobile market. Among its shareholders are prominent leaders in Italy and the world, from the sectors of telecommunications, the Internet and new media, publishing and finance. Hutchison Whampoa Limited is the primary shareholder 88.67% of the authorized capital. The other shareholders include CIR, S. Paolo Imi, BMI, RCS Mediagroup, Gemina and Tiscali.

Contacts:
Gian Marco Litrico
Director of external and media relations
Tel. 02 4458 2129
gianmarco.litrico@h3g.it