Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong has announced the availability of its new brand – 3ree Broadband.

In conjunction with mobile operator 3, Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong has integrated its mobile and fixed line broadband services under this new brand.

As well as offering good deals on mobile broadband, voice and fixed broadband, should customers turn to 3ree Broadband, they will also be able to use for free, all of the Wi-Fi spots in Hong Kong.

3 UK, the mobile phone operator, is about to spark off a price war for the coveted iPhone 4 mobile from Apple. 3 is currently taking pre-orders for the micro-SIM price plans and I have to say, it’s quite a good deal. For £15 a month, customers will get a 30-day rolling contract that offers 300 minutes, 3,000 texts, 1GB of data and 2,000 3-to-3 texts.

The other major mobile operators that will be selling the iPhone 4 are Vodafone, Orange, O2 and there’s a whisper that Tesco is going to sell the iPhone 4 as well. Vodafone, Orange and O2 are also offering 30 day contracts however, for £25 – which is alright for them, but as the smallest mobile operator, 3 has to offer a cheaper price plan in order tog et the business.

Mobile phone network 3 has released its data plans for the Apple iPad, which it is due to start selling on Friday. As well as boasting that it has the largest network in the country, 3 also seems to have the best priced data plans for the Apple iPad.

For £7.50 per month, customers of 3 can get up to 1GB of data use a month while £15 will get you up to 10GB of data use. This compares to £15 for 5GB with Orange, £15 for 3GB with Orange and £15 for 3GB with O2. Also, 3 customers won’t have to sign a contract, meaning that they can make their tariffs flexible. Far from being “highly competitive” as Marc Allera, sales and marketing director at 3, says – 3 has blown the competition away!

Mobile operator 3 UK has taken a simpler option to the mobile phone game craze that has swept the nation. Rather than having a multitude of different apps with different prices and payment options, 3 is creating a simpler user experience in the hopes that customers will instead choose to go with 3.

3 is offering two simple price plans for access to games – a free trial or a full download for £4.99. 3 uses Accumulate for its game wrapping service, which also wraps games for other mobile phone operators and manufacturers.

Nokia Siemens Networks announced last week that it has signed a lucrative deal with mobile phone network providers T-Mobile and 3. The deal is rumoured to be around £400 million and will require Nokia Siemens Networks to expand 3 and T-Mobile’s 3G (third generation) networks within the UK.

As well as the expansion of the network, the contract will involve maintenance, servicing and planning too. Nokia Siemens Networks, 3 and T-Mobile are hoping that the end of 2010 will see a joint coverage of the UK, with a mobile network covering around 98% of the population.

After numerous rumours that the launch would be postponed, we are glad to announce that the HTC Desire was shipped to the UK at the end of last week! Rumours about the Android-based mobile phone were flying around however Vodafone addressed the masses saying that the handset would be on time for its schedule. Vodafone allowed that a technical error concerning emails had caused a problem but rumours of delaying the UK launch were untrue.

The HTC Desire will be sold by mobile phone company 3 towards the end of April.

Ofcom recently announced its intention to drastically reduce mobile termination rates – the charges that mobile operators impose in order to connect calls to their network. Despite most mobile operators professing outrage at the measure, mainly due to the impact it will have on their profits, one mobile operator is welcoming the new measure with open arms.

Mobile operator 3 has yet to report any pre-tax profits since it was launched. Because the company is the smallest out of all the mobile operators in the UK, 3’s profits are greatly reduced by current mobile termination rates. Now that the rates are due to be cut, 3 is being granted a new lease of life and it has vowed to grow its customer base aggressively. Say hello to the little mobile company that could.

Tired of being the runt of the litter, mobile provider 3 is to use ‘aggressive expansion’ to grow its network and increase its customer base. 3 is currently the smallest mobile phone provider in the UK as start-up troubles with handsets and networks created a negative image which still shadows its development today. However, 3 now has one of the strongest mobile networks in the UK and has just planted its 10,000^th phone mast. By the end of the year, 3 predicts it will have a 98% network coverage of the UK. We’ll see who’s smallest then.

Though it may be the smallest provider in the UK, with the least amount of subscribers, 3 can now say with all confidence that it has the best UK coverage in the mobile business. 3 recently petitioned UK telecoms regulator Ofcom after Orange outrageously claimed to have the largest network. A mere 7,500 masts? Sneered 3. Never in a million years. So just to prove a point, 3 is making sure that everyone knows it has just put up its 10’000^th 3G mast – with an estimated 3’000 to follow this year.

Network coverage has become the biggest concern for mobile operators since the arrival of smartphones. As networks become increasingly clogged up, customers forgo many other criteria to instead choose the provider with the best network coverage. Heaven forbid they can’t tweet every two minutes!

3 Austria has unveiled a new app store that 3 customers can use if they want to download apps to their smartphone. Most of 3’s customers will be able to access the store as it is compatible with both Java devices and Symbian phones. The apps come in 14 different categories at the moment including social networking, entertainment and business.

Like other mobile providers, 3 is following in the footsteps of Apple as it continues to enjoy untold success. 3 and the others now want a slice of it – or should that be bite?