CK Hutchison-owned 3 UK became the second of the country’s operators in the space of a week to outline an aggressive push into the business sector, releasing a proposition aimed at medium-sized companies with plans to eventually target large enterprises.

In an event in London, 3 UK’s CEO and senior members of its business and technical teams outlined an ambition to capture a growing slice of the enterprise segment with the ultimate aim of overtaking all rivals with its 5G-led service.

The company has been recruiting from rivals to beef up its B2B team in recent months and, although 3 Business MD Mike Tomlinson (pictured) acknowledged there had been “a few false dawns over the years going in and out of” the business market, he was confident its current team could hit the lofty targets.

It has various objectives for the enterprise segment including increasing connection numbers from 260,000 expected for 2022 to more than 1 million in 2026, and capturing a 12 per cent market share in the same period from a starting point of 3 per cent.

Tomlinson argued some of its notable rivals were being held back by legacy processes, having to support old technologies and in some cases residual customers.

He added the mobile and digital-first nature of 3 UK’s proposition offered it an advantage.

Its latest launch into the segment targets enterprises requiring between 25 and 250 connections under the Business Adapt banner. Its deal includes unlimited data SIMs, a self-service analytics portal and flexible plans.

The operator also plans to develop specific offers for the public sector and larger enterprises as part of the ongoing drive.

Consolidation
Elsewhere at the event CEO Robert Finnegan remained tight-lipped when pressed on speculation the company was in talks to merge its operation with rival Vodafone UK, though repeated support for consolidation.

Finnegan noted the market remained dysfunctional with too many operators, branding arguments around weaker competition in markets with only three players as “ludicrous”.