Three UK in L-Band Rollout as Mobile Data Usage Per User Hits 9.1GB

Mobile operator Three UK has today released their latest results to the end of June 2019 (H1 19 financial), which amongst other things revealed that monthly Mobile Broadband (3G / 4G) data usage per customer grew from 8.3GB (GigaBytes) last quarter to 9.1GB now. Plus they plan a rollout of L-Band technology to boost 4G.

As usual Three UK continues to produce users with a higher level of data consumption than any other network, which is mostly down to their affordable allowances and unlimited data plans (HomeFi). Meanwhile 4G now accounts for 82% of total network traffic (up from 79% last quarter) and that’s because 87% of their customer base are using it (up from 84% – we assume the rest are still on 3G).

The operator’s total active network “connections” have also reached 11.7 million (up from 11.3m last quarter), which stems from an “active customer base” of 10,234,000 (up from 10,026,000). Meanwhile their gross Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is running at £18.26 (up from £18.23) and total revenue for H1 2019 stood at £1,167m (down from £1,186m in H1 2018).

Three UK also says they have “830,000 broadband customers,” which we assume is primarily a reference to their dedicated Mobile Broadband plans and possibly including some of their Three Broadband (formerly Relish Wireless) ISP subscribers.

The announcement also gave an update on a beta trial for their future 5G powered Three Broadband fixed wireless service in Camden (London), which is said to be delivering live 5G connectivity with average download speeds of 138Mbps (compared to 25Mbps on their 4G network).

Dave Dyson, CEO of Three UK, said:

“The second half of 2019 will see the most important and exciting milestone in our history since we launched the UK’s first 3G network in 2003.

Three has a long history of putting UK consumers first and the launch of the UK’s fastest 5G network using our leading 5G spectrum portfolio and investment in world class cloud-based infrastructure means that we can disrupt the UK’s home broadband network, at the same time as serving our data-hungry mobile customers.

Against this backdrop of huge investment in network and IT infrastructure and some dual running costs as we reach this milestone, I am pleased with the underlying strength of the business. Our customer satisfaction score remains the highest of all the MNOs reflected by the low levels of churn.

Our people are our most valuable asset, so I am also pleased with the progress we have made towards our goal of becoming the best loved brand by our employees by 2023. Our employees want mental health and wellbeing to be more than just buzzwords at Three, it is something they wish to be at the core of our strategy and through a range of initiatives, we are helping to make Three a great place to work and be the best version of yourself that you can be.”

One other interesting aspect of Three’s results announcement is their confirmation of a plan for the “nationwide” rollout of L-Band technology, which they said would “lead to further substantial speed and coverage improvements, in addition to using 3G spectrum for 4G.” This is a reference to the 20MHz slice of the 1.4GHz band (1452-1492MHz) that they and Vodafone scooped up all the way back in August 2015 (here).

At the time the 1.4GHz band wasn’t widely used for Mobile Broadband connectivity and as such it has taken quite a long time to develop a solution for its commercial deployment, although Three UK now appears to be making progress on this. Sadly no further information was included but we assume this is coming soon if they’ve chosen to announce it.

Otherwise the rest of today’s results largely repeat everything we know about next month’s 5G launch (here).