Three UK aims for medium-sized firms with business comms offers

Hot on the heels of announcing that its 5G network had gained leadership in terms of population coverage across the country, operator Three UK has unveiled a new business proposition, Three Business Adapt, which will see it expand into the medium-sized business sector, targeting companies with 25 to 250 employees. 

As it introduced the new range of connectivity offers, Three UK revealed its business division was projected to account for 30% of the company’s margin growth over the next five years, seeing connections increase from the current figure of 260,000 to one million by 2026. This would mean it leaping from a 3% market share to 12% by 2026, and the company was confident that it could “easily” hit 20% within 10 years, operating in an addressable market that would grow from the current 35% of the UK to over 90%.

Three Business Adapt is based on five key pillars: digital infrastructure, differentiated proposition, a net sales channel, the best service and brand credibility. It is designed to allow customers to control their monthly spending on communications.

What is described as an unlimited business plan sees none of Three’s tariffs being sharer plans, meaning customers won’t overspend, worry about data limits, or second-guess how much they’re using. A self-serve portal with an integrated analytics dashboard allows businesses to control usage and spending, with the ability to adapt their plan and the number of connections they have to suit their needs as they grow and change in size.

For Mike Tomlinson, managing director of business at Three UK, the push into medium-sized firms was essentially risk-free and just a matter of scaling up and a question as to how long the projected growth would take.

He said the new offer – comprising at launch five options depending on the number of connections firms wanted – would address what he called the cost of doing business crisis, which has hit small to medium-sized businesses due to the cost of living crisis affecting their customers. Moreover, he was confident that the new package would take aim at legacy infrastructure that was designed for big business, and instead put flexibility and control at the heart of the Three Business mission.

“With Business Adapt we are determined to provide simplicity to the business market so that a single, predictable monthly charge would cover the mobile connectivity requirements of the entire team. We’ve enabled 5G at no extra cost to future-proof the proposition and to provide market-leading value for money,” he remarked.

“We are proud of our role in supporting UK businesses and will continue to develop more compelling and relevant offerings over the months and years to come. A lot of our customers in the markets they go after serve the consumer market. That consumer market has got a lower amount of discretionary and disposable income, and the businesses themselves have seen inflationary pressure in net cost.”

Snehal Bhudia, director of business propositions and go to market at Three UK, added: “Business Adapt is the most straightforward and transparent offering in the market today. It provides businesses with a very flexible, scalable solution that’s simple to use and gives much-needed cost certainty.

“These plans are perfect for any business needing 25 to 250 connections and come with dedicated customer service and self-serve tools. Businesses take the plan that best suits their needs – whatever connection plan suits them. It’s fully unlimited. And 5G is available at no extra cost.”

The launch is also said to be the result of significant investment in digital infrastructure, through partnerships with companies such as digital transformation software supplier Amdocs, Docusign, Adobe, Tariffcom and Astute, as well as the creation of new sales and service channels.