Europe Ireland : 3 Ireland announced it has entered the Irish mobile mass market, with the introduction of '3Pay', its new Pre-Pay service (the Pre-Pay segment represents 76% of the Irish mobile market).

With generous credit of up to €80 on all handsets and a three month introductory offer of on-network voice and video calls for only 3c per minute and 3c texts to any Irish network, 3 Ireland is once again shaking-up the Irish mobile market and bringing Irish Pre-Pay mobile users incredible value.

3, which is Europe's leading 3G mobile network, launched its Irish business in July 2005, focusing on the consumer contract (bill-pay) market. Since then it has brought a new level of value and competition to the Irish mobile market, with great value tariffs from €25 for 200 anytime, any network minutes and a wealth of free 3G video content for all customers. Today's announcement represents 3's intention to take on Ireland's Pre-Pay market segment in a similar manner.

Robert Finnegan, Managing Director, 3 Ireland said: "Since we launched our bill pay service in Ireland in July 2005, 3 Ireland has really challenged the market by offering simple, great value tariffs, exciting video content and top-end 3G handsets. We firmly believe our '3Pay' proposition will see us take a significant share of Ireland’s Pre Pay market, and our 3G credentials and offering will take Ireland’s mass market mobile users into the future."

3Pay Tariffs -- With '3Pay', Irish mobile users can take advantage of some fantastic value voice, video call and text tariffs:

Promotional 3 Month Introductory Tariffs:

On-Network Voice and Video Calls Any-Network SMS
3c 3c

Regular Tariffs:

On-Net Voice and Video Calls Off-Net Voice & Video Calls Any-Net SMS 171 Voicemail Landline calls Any-Net MMS
18c 35c 9c Free 18c 25c

Start-off & MNP Credit -- All '3Pay' mobiles come with €10 credit, meaning new customers can start talking as soon as they walk out of the store. In addition, new customers who choose to avail of mobile number portability (MNP) and transfer their mobile number to the 3 network will receive an additional €10 credit.
Top-up Credit -- Any customer who tops up by a minimum of €10 every 30 days from activation will get €10 extra credit added to their handset every month for six months. Top-up vouchers come in four denominations; €10, €20, €30 and €40, and associated top-up credit bonuses are as follows:

'3Pay' customers can top-up at more than 4,500 locations nationwide, with more added daily.
Free 3G Content -- Just like 3's contract customers, '3Pay' customers will get access to a wide array of free 3G video content directly from their 3 mobile:

World Cup -- From June 9th to July 9th, all customers will be able to view all the exciting highlights from the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ for free directly on their '3Pay' mobiles. Match highlights will be available following every game, five minutes after the final whistle.
Music -- If that was not enough, customers can look forward to access to select free audio track downloads and 3's exclusive music programme featuring Top 10 downloads charts, artist interviews and performances and much more -- launching June 1st 2006.
News -- '3Pay' customers can download over 40 minutes of RTE video news as well as other news content services for free.
Other free content -- Customers also get access to a wealth of other great free video content including Barclay's Premiership goals and highlights, movie reviews, horoscopes and comedy clips from the likes of Eddie Izzard.
'3Pay' customers can also access all of the same content as contract customers from including MTV programming and full-length music videos and audio tracks. Prices start at 70c for MTV news clips.

Roaming -- 3 recently announced the abolition of UK roaming charges for all customers, and as such '3Pay' customers can make domestic and UK calls while roaming in Northern Ireland and Great Britain for the same price as local '3Pay' calls (35c per minute). '3Pay' customers can also call the UK from Ireland without paying international call charges.

Handsets -- 3 is offering a wide range of great value, top-quality '3Pay' 3G video mobiles including Nokia’s first 3G slider mobile the 6280, and other great handsets from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, NEC and LG, starting from only €69.

Customer Service -- In keeping with its commitment to provide exemplary customer service, '3Pay' customers can access 3's dedicated customer service 24/7, by free calling 333 from their handsets.

Network -- 3 has 99.5% population coverage for voice and text and more than 72% population coverage for 3G video services. 3's 3G network is the widest and most advanced 3G network in Ireland.

'3Pay' is available now at www.three.ie, or by calling 1800-330-333. It is also available at Carphone Warehouse, XtraVision and 3G stores nationwide as well as other independent retailers.

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