CK Hutchison-owned 3 UK completed the initial phase of a multi-million pound infrastructure upgrade designed to power a push deeper into the country’s business communications sector.

The company signed up vendors Amdocs, Docusign, Adobe, Tariffcom and Astute for creation of its new IT platform, which is set to begin full operation at the start of 2022.

In a statement, 3 UK noted the new infrastructure would improve experiences provided to customers in a range of sectors including telesales, digital sales and retail.

Fuelled by the new system, 3 UK aims to “reshape the business connectivity market”. In pushing deeper into B2B it faces tough competition from fellow operators BT Group, Vodafone Business, Virgin Media O2 and a number of specialists.

Alongside upgrading its IT system, 3 UK noted it had already undertaken an employee recruitment drive with further plans to up its enterprise-focused workforce by a “significant number” in 2022.

Mike Tomlinson, 3 UK MD of business, said it had a “significant role to play over the next five years and beyond” in the sector, adding it now has “an innovative, digital platform upon which our future propositions will be launched”.

It plans to migrate existing customers onto the new platform during 2022.