In May 2000 the UK government awarded five licences to run third generation wireless services. The largest of these licenses was set aside for a new entrant in order to increase competition in the market and included a guaranteed roaming agreement.

Hutchison 3G (now 3) acquired this licence and at the lowest cost. With the largest amount of spectrum 3 have a significant advantage in being able to deliver the most compelling range of multimedia services and bring value for money into the marketplace.

In 2003, 3 launched the UK’s first video mobile network to bring new and better services to the mobile media market. Given 3G was a new technology, 3 undertook one of the fastest network rollouts in UK history and met their license regulatory requirements three years ahead of schedule.