€1bn Investment in Ireland’s only 3G Network

Europe : Vodafone Ireland announced the launch of prepaid 3G services, becoming the only operator to offer a full suite of 3G services to business and consumer customers.

The company has also announced the launch of Full Track Music Downloads today, which, along with the GAA Championship downloads are key propositions for the consumer market.

From 2nd June, the new range of five 3G prepaid handsets will be available through Vodafone stores. Today’s launch follows the successful introduction of consumer post-paid services in November 2004. Business customers have been using the Vodafone 3G network since the launch of the 3G Mobile Connect card in June 2004.

Speaking at the launch, Teresa Elder, Vodafone Chief Executive, commented: “We are delighted that our prepaid customers can now enjoy the benefits of our full service 3G offering, including the flagship new content available through the Full Track Music Downloads and the GAA Championship content. Since the first consumer launch in November 2004, we have worked hard to lead the way in the provision of exclusive content such as Barclays Premiership, Cheltenham racing highlights, Rugby Heineken Cup highlights, RTE and Sky News video clips as well as new movie and music content.

“We have progressed the build and roll-out of our 3G network ahead of our competition, adding 30 new towns to the 3G network since June 2004 and we have substantially increased our in-building coverage in urban areas. Our aggressive rollout, which will see us investing €1billion over a seven year period positions us at the cutting-edge of 3G development in Ireland, and today’s announcement further differentiates us from other operators’ offerings. 72% of our base use pre-paid phones and I am delighted to extend the benefits of our extensive 3G network, wide range of handsets, speed of download and breadth of content to our full customer base.”

Key propositions and price points
Full Track Music Downloads: CD quality full original tracks available to download onto the mobile phone. More than 16,000 artists and 250,000 tracks are available. All 3G handsets come equipped with stereo headsets so that the CD quality high-end sound can be enjoyed while out and about. Customers who subscribe before the end of August can download 4 free tracks in their first month. A subscription costs €5.96 for four tracks per month and individual tracks are priced at €1.99 each. Customers can search for a particular artist or can browse through song titles. Browsing is free to all customers.

GAA downloads: This service, announced recently by Vodafone and the GAA, allows customers to download video match clips, goals and highlights from the GAA Football and Hurling Championship games onto the mobile phones. Thousands of postpaid customers are already subscribed to the service since it’s launch in May. The coverage, with commentary, contains the best moments from each game as well as RTE Sport’s post-match interviews with players and management. The GAA Championship content is free to all users for the duration of the 2005 Championships.

Handsets: A range of five prepaid 3G handsets will be in Vodafone retail stores from 2nd June. Customers who choose to trade up their 2G phone will receive €100 off the cost of their new 3G handset. The Motorola V908 has a RRP of €149, the Nokia 6630 will be €199, the Sony Ericsson V800 will cost €249, the Nokia 6680 €299 and the Sharp V902 will retail from €499.