A considerable achievement in four years and in a market that telcos have historically struggled to address – but does it make any money?
Three Business, the B2B arm of Three UK, announced it has reached 1 million small- and medium-sized enterprise customers in the four years since it launched its business services. The award-winning* business unit claims it has grown quickly “by meeting the growing connectivity demands of customers with fast, reliable 5G connectivity, straightforward pricing, and digital tools and support that were once only available to large enterprises”.
The press statement attributes Three Business’ success to developing a strong, UK-wide partner network as well as direct B2B channels, along with recruiting employees who are experienced in “scale-up situations”.
It adds that building its own IT to target the B2B sector resulted in “a lean and agile operation that is able to deliver excellent quality at affordable prices”.
In profit?
This looks like an interesting success story in a huge sector that telcos have historically struggled to serve efficiently – indeed many have struggled to make a profit from providing services to enterprises of all sizes. On the other hand, Three does not break out its Business division in its earnings reports and would not provide any financial information when we requested it.
Mike Tomlinson, MD of Three Business, said, “We are delighted to achieve this…milestone and even more pleased to see the market responding positively to what we have to offer. Our exceptional growth over the last four years has been driven by staying true to our principles; to focus only on what customers need and deliver it to a high standard and for great value. Technology has helped us to keep costs down even when scaling quickly.
“All…our partners share our vision and we are grateful for their support. Thank you to all our customers, we will continue to do our utmost to deliver for you.”
*Three won the award for the Best Network for Business at the Mobile Industry Awards in 2023 and 2024.
