VodafoneThree begins a new era of connectivity for the UK

Building the UK's best network starts now:

Unprecedented £11bn investment is one of the largest privately-funded infrastructure programmes in the UK, connecting all four nations and every community.

VodafoneThree is the only mobile network operator with a fully funded, regulated and guaranteed network build plan, reaching 99.95% 5G Standalone population coverage by 2034 and at its peak creating approximately 13,000 jobs.
Within just two weeks, through sharing of combined spectrum, 7 million Three and SMARTY customers will receive a 20% average speed boost on 4G.
Within a few months, 27 million Vodafone and Three customers will start to benefit from unrivalled access to roam across each other’s networks – automatically connecting them to the best coverage available, at no extra cost. By the end of the year this will remove a total of 16,500 sq/km of not spots – equivalent to 10x the size of London – with the first sites already having been turned on.
Multi-brand mobile strategy in consumer remains (Vodafone, Three, VOXI, SMARTY, Talkmobile), with Vodafone the only brand for business customers and Vodafone the only converged brand for consumers and businesses.
As the UK’s largest full fibre provider, VodafoneThree is set to challenge the broadband market by aiming to cover all homes with fibre or fibre-like speeds (blending Vodafone’s full fibre footprint and Three’s Fixed Wireless Access) starting with a new partnership with Community Fibre on top of existing partnerships with CityFibre and Openreach.
Two additional customer care centres announced, Belfast and Sheffield, bringing 400 jobs back to the UK, and no planned retail redundancies.

Max Taylor, CEO, VodafoneThree:
“A new era of connectivity has begun. We will connect every nation, every community, in every corner of the UK. We will build the UK’s best 5G network with an unprecedented £11bn privately-funded infrastructure project, laying the digital foundation for our country’s growth ambitions. Benefits for our 27 million mobile customers will start within months, with access to roam across both networks at no extra cost. From big cities to small towns, and everywhere in between, our mission is to build the UK’s best network.”

Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer:

“I’m delighted that this huge investment is being made in mobile phone network infrastructure, better connecting people with families, loved ones and work by providing stronger, more widespread 5G coverage. Our Spending Review is all about growing our economy and attracting private investment to deliver on our Plan for Change, and it’s fantastic that VodafoneThree has chosen to join us on our mission of national renewal.”

Sir Chris Bryant, Telecoms Minister:

“By committing to upgrading 5G across the country, VodafoneThree is helping us build a more dynamic economy and more efficient public services, which will have a tangible impact on working people, from doctors treating more patients remotely in rural Wales to manufacturers in Northern Ireland harnessing AI to innovate. This partnership is a great example of how the private sector can back our mission to deliver 5G to every community by 2030, helping us to grow the economy as part of our Plan for Change.”

12 June 2025 - The much-needed transformation of the UK’s digital infrastructure has begun, with VodafoneThree leading the way through an unprecedented £11bn investment and a clear mission: to build the UK’s best network. The company’s sense of purpose could not be stronger: to connect every community, school and hospital across all four nations and, in turn, invest in the UK’s businesses, communities and people.

Brand strategy
VodafoneThree is the company and will leverage international best practice and buying power from two international parent companies, Vodafone Group and CK Hutchison. Today, the Vodafone network and the Three network exist but, over time, VodafoneThree will integrate them into one network, which will be called: The Nation’s Network.

The company will operate a multi-brand mobile strategy in consumer with Vodafone, Three, VOXI, SMARTY and Talkmobile remaining. Customers will be able to choose the service package that best fits their needs from any one of these brands, all operating on the Nation’s Network.

Vodafone will be the only brand for business customers, with one team able to tailor solutions to a customer’s needs, with the ambition to become the UK’s biggest converged network for business.

Over the next 12 months, VodafoneThree will bring Three’s mobile broadband (Fixed Wireless Access¹) together with Vodafone’s Full Fibre into one home broadband portfolio, under the Vodafone brand. There will only be one converged brand for both businesses and consumers.

Benefits of the UK’s best network
VodafoneThree, the biggest mobile network operator in the UK with 27 million customers, is the only operator with a quarter-by-quarter, year-by-year, guaranteed plan² to reach 99.95% 5G Standalone (5G SA) population coverage by 2034. The network will be built at speed, with the 5G SA build plan being front-loaded so that, by the end of the third year, it will hit 90% population coverage³ from a current baseline of 47%.

In fact, in just one year, up to 50 million people will have access to VodafoneThree’s fastest 5G speeds.⁴ Only a 5G Standalone network will have the capacity and speed to manage the vast amounts of data that applications like AI will require, meaning VodafoneThree aims to build the first nationwide, AI-ready network.

Customer benefits in the first year – four commitments:

Within just two weeks, through the sharing of combined spectrum, 7 million Three and SMARTY customers will receive a 4G boost. They already experience the UK’s fastest speeds in some areas of the country and, now, they will benefit from reliable speeds in more places,⁵ with an improvement in 4G data speed of up to 20%.
Within a few months, 27 million Vodafone and Three mobile customers will start to benefit from unrivalled access to roam on each other’s networks at no extra cost. It will happen automatically, with no need to change a thing. A customer’s phone will simply connect to the best coverage available. By the end of the year this will remove a total of 16,500 sq/km of not spots⁶ – equivalent to 10x the size of London – with the first sites already having been turned on.
By this time next year, VodafoneThree will launch beta trials on a ‘first-of-its-kind’, space-based satellite mobile network, thanks to Vodafone’s partnership with AST Space Mobile. This will complement the existing network build, eliminating coverage gaps in places that otherwise couldn’t be reached, leaving no one behind.
Lastly, even customers of other providers can try VodafoneThree’s network with a seven-day, free, eSIM trial. By simply scanning a QR code, customers will be able to try the network: same phone, same contact details, no commitment. The trial was launched a few weeks ago in London and this week in Liverpool, Sheffield and Belfast.

Improving customer experience
Improving customer experience will be at the heart of VodafoneThree. Beyond dramatically improving network quality. Within two years the company will open two new customer care centres in Belfast and Sheffield, bringing 400 sales and customer service roles back to the UK, alongside the existing call centres in Stoke and Glasgow.

VodafoneThree announces the launch of a new ‘Just Ask Once’ Promise on the Vodafone Brand from July. ‘Just Ask Once’ will set a new standard in customer service for the industry. Aiming to resolve any query, quickly and painlessly, with a dedicated advisor who proactively updates the customer, and if the issue isn’t resolved to the customers satisfaction, they will be able to simply part ways without penalty.

A challenger in fixed – the convergence opportunity
While much of the merger focus has been on mobile, VodafoneThree will challenge the broadband market, bringing better value and choice through existing and new partnerships. Vodafone has been the fastest growing broadband provider for many years and Three is the second fastest, with mobile broadband (Fixed Wireless Access).

Together, the company has over 2 million customers and can, today, bring fibre or fibre-like speeds (up to 2.2Gbps) to 22.5 million homes and businesses⁷ – more than any other provider in the UK. Given the 5G Standalone rollout, the company has an ambition to extend this to 100% of UK homes and businesses. VodafoneThree aims to cross sell to a larger customer base, also ranging a WiFi 7 router (the fastest home broadband technology) and a battery backup solution which is free to vulnerable customers.

VodafoneThree is committed to supporting competition through alternative network providers (altnets), and today announced a new partnership with Community Fibre in London, bringing faster speeds to even more homes. This builds on existing agreements with Openreach and CityFibre.

Impact
VodafoneThree’s network investment will deliver jobs in every region of the UK. The deployment of 5G SA will require significant investment in network infrastructure, leading to thousands more jobs in engineering, construction, and maintenance of telecom towers, fibre optics, and base stations. Over the entire eight-year build period, VodafoneThree will create and sustain demand for, on average, 9,000 jobs, with peak investment years (years 2-6) seeing as many as 13,000 jobs created across the UK (74% outside London and the South East).⁸

VodafoneThree will build a network that makes the UK safer, more secure and more sustainable. From reducing environmental impact to safeguarding vulnerable customers, VodafoneThree believes connectivity is a force for good. For example:

By consolidating networks, VodafoneThree’s energy consumption will be around 31% lower than it would have been as two separate networks. In addition, VodafoneThree will reduce emissions from operations to net zero by 2027 and look to achieve the same across the full value chain by 2040.
The company believes connectivity is essential and everyone should have access to the benefits it provides, building the network on the promise of leaving no one behind. VodafoneThree will continue to close the digital divide, re-use and rehome devices to those in need, while keeping social tariffs in both mobile and broadband for those on universal credit.
VodafoneThree fully supports the online safety agenda Ofcom is driving and will continue to call for ‘safety by design’. VodafoneThree will be the first to exclusively range the first phone from HMD in the UK, with a new innovative on-device AI called HarmBlock. This software (built by SafeToNet) means that harmful content can't be seen, shared or created. The phone, which also features real-time location tracking and contact safe-lists, grows with your child, starting without access to apps and the online world to build healthier digital habits from day one.

¹4G/5G mobile Broadband.
² Enforced and regulated by Ofcom.
³ Today, VodafoneThree’s baseline for 5G SA is 47% population coverage.
⁴ Around 71% of the UK population (circa 50 million) will have access to our fastest 5G speeds by the end of year one.
⁵ 7 million are in areas that will see the improvement to their 4G thanks to VodafoneThree making use of Vodafone UK's spectrum.
⁶ Partial not spots.

⁷ Vodafone reaches 20M premises as verified by Thinkbroadband and Three’s FWA footprint reaches 2.5 million premises.
⁸ WPI Strategy report 2025.

VodafoneThree: A New Era of Connectivity

Find out how VodafoneThree is setting a new standard for connectivity in the UK.

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About VodafoneThree

VodafoneThree is the UK’s largest mobile network operator serving the fixed and mobile market, formed following the merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK in June 2025.

Through an unprecedented £11 billion investment, VodafoneThree will build the UK’s best network. The network will deliver reliable, quality connectivity to all nations and regions, creating as many as 13,000 jobs and laying a digital foundation for the country’s growth ambitions. VodafoneThree is the only mobile network operator with a fully funded, regulated and guaranteed network build plan, reaching 99.95% population coverage by 2034. From big cities to small towns, and everywhere in between, the company’s mission is to build the UK’s best network.

VodafoneThree is a private company, 51% owned by Vodafone and 49% owned by CK Hutchison Holdings. It encompasses all businesses and assets, including Vodafone UK, Three UK, VOXI Mobile, SMARTY and Talkmobile.

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