Goodbye 3 Mobile Australia

1. What’s changing about 3 and Vodafone?

• 2 years after 3 and Vodafone came together we’re ready to take the next step to one brand, Vodafone.
• Over the last 2 years since our merger we’ve been busy building a service that brings the things customers love about 3 to Vodafone, making Vodafone even better with great value, great mobiles, and great service.
• From 31^st of August, new customers joining us for the first time will join us on Vodafone.
• For 3 customers wanting to upgrade or take a second service, we want Vodafone to be their first choice – so our first offer to them will be Vodafone.
• For our 3 customers not yet due to upgrade nothing changes for them right now. They will just start to see more Vodafone branding on their bill and the 3 website. Importantly their network and plan remains 3.
• We will continue to maintain the 3 network however our major network investment is in our new Vodafone network bringing better indoor coverage, faster downloads and a stronger signal than before from Vodafone.

2. Does this impact my agreement?

No, your agreement is not impacted and will remain unchanged and in effect as per its existing terms

3. What’s your plan for moving 3 customers to Vodafone?

Our approach will be to proactively promote Vodafone as the first choice for 3 customers ready for an upgrade. Customers can still choose to upgrade or add an additional service on 3 if they wish. Customers early in their contract can stay on 3 or bring their 3 handset and move to a Vodafone plan.

4. What’s happening to 3 Pre Pay

3 customers can continue to recharge for now.

5. What will happen to the 3 network? Will it close?

No. We are moving to one brand but the 3 network won’t close.  If you’re on 3 you’ll continue to receive your service.  Last year we announced that we’ll be ending our arrangement with Telstra to share the 3 network that our 3 customers use sometime next year.  Our plan is to merge our 3 and Vodafone networks into a single network, so customers on 3 will still have their service.

6. So if I’m with 3 next year when the arrangements with Telstra end, what will happen?

By then our Vodafone and 3 networks will have merged, so customers will also be getting the benefit of all the new sites being added to the Vodafone network as well as the work going in to upgrading the Vodafone 3G network and building the new 850MHz network.

7. What about Telstra roaming?

As we will be bringing our two networks together, customers on 3 will roam onto Vodafone’s 3G and 2G networks, once the agreement with Telstra finishes.  We’re investing a $1bn in the Vodafone network to make sure it’s better, faster and stronger than before.  What’s also good news is that if customers’ data roam once we’ve made the changeover from Telstra, they will stay on the Vodafone 3G network so they don’t need to worry about getting charged roaming rates for data usage.