Three enters the 5G fracas with FWA offering

Three is promising to launch a 5G home broadband service in London in August, before rolling out the connectivity euphoria for both mobile and broadband in 25 cities by the end of 2019.

With EE and Vodafone already moving through the gears in the 5G race, it was never going to be long before Three made its debut. Initial plans had seen Three as a little big sluggish in the home-straight, though it appears the business is ramping up pretty quickly.

“It’s clear that consumers and businesses want more and more data,” said Three CEO Dave Dyson. “We have the UK’s best network for data and we have led the market on customer usage on both 3G and 4G technologies. We have worked hard over a long period of time to be able to offer the best end to end 5G experience. 5G is a game changer for Three, and of course I am excited that we will be the only operator in the UK who can offer true 5G.”

For the moment, the Three focus is going to be exclusively on fixed wireless access. This should not come as too much of a surprise, Three has been plugging the FWA business case over the last couple of months and it does offer the team new products to shout about. Three is somewhat of a specialist in the disruption game and have been eyeing up the fixed market since its acquisition of UK Broadband in 2017. Most might associate 5G with mobile, but it does present Three with a very interesting opportunity.

“It is the home broadband offering that really catches the eye,” said David Warner of uSwitch. “Until now, much of the discussion of 5G’s arrival has centred on how it will improve mobile connectivity and speeds, but its potential to upend the broadband market, and so quickly, is now being explored by Three.

“Those in areas or buildings without full fibre installed may now be able to choose the convenient option of plugging a 5G router straight into the wall and being online on ultrafast speeds in seconds. By the time full fibre does reach many people – with 2033 still the government’s target for full coverage – they may very well be perfectly happy with 5G mobile broadband connections.

That said, it won’t be long before Three enters the mobile fray. Network tests are currently being undertaken in the likes of London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, all of which will figure into the 25-strong list of cities to get the 5G euphoria before the end of the year. There are a couple of questions which remain however.

Firstly, you have to wonder what devices will be sold through Three tariffs once the mobile products are rolled out to the masses. As it stands, Three has two devices listed on its website. One is the HTC 5G Mobile Smart Hub, and the second, the Huawei Mate X.

While there is a risk associated with the Huawei device, Three has said it will continue to sell the Mate X though consumers will be confronted with warning signs to ensure an informed purchasing decision is made. Both EE and Vodafone have stopped taking pre-orders for the Huawei device, and will not until the OS situation has been cleared up. There are of course other devices on the market, but it does seem the details are yet to be finalised. Three has said these offers will be unveiled closer to the mobile 5G launch date.

Secondly, how will Three approach the pricing conundrum.

Three’s traditional strategy in the UK is to undercut rivals. The team has traditionally targeted those consumers who are heavy data users, and it would be a sensible bet to assume this successful plan will continue into the 5G era, but who knows.

The challenge which consumers are facing at the moment is price. There will be thousands who upgrade as soon as possible, but normal people will look at the price of 5G connectivity (for a decent data bundle) and struggle to justify the additional expense. EE and Vodafone have unveiled their tariffs, and we suspect they are north of where the market will settle.

The question is how much of a challenge to this duo will it present? The conditions are perfectly suited for Three to roll out lower tariffs and disrupt on price once again, but only time will tell as to whether it can justify such a plan considering the expense of deploying 5G networks in the first place.