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Hutchison-owned 3 has always tried to move ahead of the curve in its European territories. So it is now taking a similar stance to '4G' pioneers like Sprint Xohm, focusing on becoming a fixed and mobile broadband provider.

3 is embracing a role that is suspiciously close to the dreaded 'bitpipe' that most cellcos are trying to avoid. It relies on a combination of perceived good value - first low cost voice, now pay-as-you-go and flat rate dongle offerings - and a focus on high value customers who are prepared to have an additional subscription, for laptop broadband, in addition to what they spend on mobile phones and home broadband. Now 3 is after a wider reach, by targeting customers who are less dependent on broadband on the move, but can replace their wireline subscription with a PC-based dongle or embedded HSPA, which can then also be used away from home instead of Wi-Fi.

This shift to the budget conscious data user will be important in the current climate of economic uncertainty, UK CEO Kevin Russell was arguing last week in an interview. He claims 30% of 3 UK's subscriber base, about 600,000 customers, are already using mobile broadband, mainly based on dongles, in addition to handsets. Some of these have been lured to 3 initially by the strong dongle pricing, especially the pay-as-you-go option, and 3 may then hope to sign them up for other service bundles including voice. This is the reverse of the usual pattern, where cellcos tend to market dongles as an add-on for existing voice and handset data customers.

Russell says 3 UK will have 99% per cent HSPA coverage by mid-2010 (accelerated by its network sharing deal with T-Mobile). "This network will provide us with a phenomenal opportunity to reposition our brand and take a real leadership position in data services. Our key focus over the next three, four, five years has to be to leverage that differentiation in data," said Russell, pointing to a major branding and marketing exercise focused on the directions 3 has already taken in terms of operations and service delivery - becoming primarily a broadband provider, working within broadband ISP norms in terms of pricing, bundling and service quality, rather than primarily a mobile carrier.

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