3, the Italian mobile video company of the Hutchison Whampoa Group, after the hit of its 'Top 3' promotion which attracted 140,000 reservations in little more than three months, has presented two new tariffs: the no-monthly-fee '3 CINQUANTA', the first 3G prepaid top-up tariff, and the subscription '3 PER TRE'.
'3 CINQUANTA' offers the NEC e606 videophone and a USIM at a price of EUR 810.00. Top-ups are available in denominations of EUR 30.00 (25 services available) and EUR 60.00 (55 services available). Flat rate tariffs apply 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, regardless of the number being dialled.
The cost of a traditional voice call to any national landline or mobile number is EUR 0.15 per minute with a EUR 0.15 set-up charge; a national video call costs EUR 0.55 per minute with a EUR 0.15 set-up charge; a national SMS costs EUR 0.15, while for an MMS or VMS (Video Message) the customer spends EUR 0.55. All prices include VAT.
Once clients spend EUR 50.00 in a month, they get a bonus of EUR 50.00 (VAT included) that can be spent on all services during the month in which the amount is accredited and in the following months, without any time related limitations. Traffic generated by a previous bonus, international traffic and roaming do not count for the attainment of the bonus.
Navigation on the 3 Mobile Portal is free for the homepage, the initial pages of every service, the data-setting page, confirmation, help, error and search, while every other page visited costs EUR 0.09. The cost of every piece of content, in order to provide the greatest possible pricing transparency for subscribers, is displayed before it is download. Prices are charged not on a per KB basis but according to the content's value. For those who want to use the videophone as a mobile modem plugged in to a PC, however, the cost is EUR 0.06 per KB with a surcharge of EUR 0.06 when the web is accessed.
The '3 PER TRE' subscription tariff allows customers to purchase the NEC e606 video phone at EUR 780.00, plus a monthly fee of EUR 6.00. Charges on this tariff plan are the same as on the prepaid plan (also including VAT), but with an additional opportunity: the possibility to video call two selected numbers of 3 subscribers for the same price as a voice call and send video messages and MMS to these two numbers at the same cost as an SMS.
The NEC e606 videophone package includes, both for those who select "3 CINQUANTA" and those who subscribe to "3 PER TRE", two lithium polymer batteries, a stereo headset, a fast battery charger, a car battery charger and the USB connecting cable.
3 is the commercial brand of H3G, the first mobile video company on the Italian market. After having won a UMTS licence in Italy in November 2000, for which it paid EUR 3.25 billion, 3 aims to be the leader in the third generation market.
This is an extract from the April 2003 edition of EMC's European Mobile Communications Report. This report is published monthly detailing current and past subscriber growth, licence awards, infrastructure contracts and market analysis from cellular activity in Eastern and Western Europe.
For further information on this report, please see: http://www.emc-database.com/redir.nsf/index/apmcr?OpenDocument&source=dz113a
