Vodafone Hutchison Australia
Encyclopedia
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) is a mobile telecommunications company that operates the Vodafone
, '3'
and Crazy John's
brands in Australia. The result of a merger between Vodafone Australia
and Hutchison 3G Australia
, it created a mobile communications entity of nearly 7 million subscribers, A$4 billion in annual revenue and a 27 per cent market share making it Australia's third largest mobile telcommunications provider behind Telstra
and Optus
.
The joint venture
entity is owned by Hutchison Telecommunications Australia (a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa
) and by the Vodafone Group PLC on a 50-50 basis. It was formed on 10 June 2009, after shareholder and ACCC
approval. At the time of the merger, VHA chief executive Nigel Dews said "the first priority is around people and getting the organisation and the organisational structure sorted out", and that head office functions would see the greatest redundancies.
VHA is now phasing out the Three brand mid 2011. No registration of new subscribers to Three as they will now be Vodafone customers.
data connections, elsewhere the faster EDGE
is available.
Vodafone's 3G 2100 MHz: Vodafone's UMTS
network is available in metro areas of major cities and some larger regional centres covering 80% of the population. In major cities, Optus and Vodafone share towers and a single set of 3G antennas and feeders, as well as equipment shelters for their respective base stations - and for some locations share a 3G base station as well. Outside of major cities, Vodafone and Optus work independently. 3G users outside of major cities use either Vodafone 2100 MHz 3G towers, Vodafones new 3G 900 MHz 3G coverage, or fall back to GSM services.
Vodafone's 3G 900 MHz: Expansion of Vodafone's 3G UMTS network was completed in October 2009, and uses 900 MHz for 3G services outside of capital cities, to equal or surpass their older GSM coverage.
Vodafone's 3G 850 MHz: Vodafone are currently rolling out new 850 MHz 3G towers and adding 850 MHz equipment to existing towers, to boost signal in-building, relieve capacity in metropolitan areas and provide a better experience for 850 MHz compatible smartphones. The 850 MHz spectrum belonged to Hutchison prior to the merger and was used by their brand Orange.
Three's 3G 2100 MHz: Three operates a 2100 MHz 3G network in a 50/50 partnership with Telstra
(the radio networks are shared, the core networks are separate), covering approximately 56% of Australia
's population. The 3G network covers Sydney
, Melbourne
, Brisbane
, Adelaide
, Perth
, the Gold Coast
, Canberra
, Geelong
, Frankston
and Wollongong
. In areas not covered by the joint 3G network, customers are able to roam on Telstra
's Next G
850 MHz 3G network (if the phone supports it), and Telstra's 900 MHz and 1800 MHz 2G networks. This agreement allows Three to offer coverage to up to 96% of the population.
The Vodafone 2G and 3G (2100/900 MHz) networks originally operated as a single network, separate to the Three network. During the merger, VHA had made no comment on their intention to combine the 3 and Vodafone networks, or offer roaming between them. However, as of late 2009, roaming onto the Vodafone's 2G network was enabled for Three customers in areas that had limited 3G coverage (e.g. blackspots), handsets now show '3 2G' instead of 'Roaming'. There are no additional charges in '3's 2G zone', although data speeds are limited.
In late 2010 VHA announced plans to consolidate the Three and Vodafone networks, in an attempt to better compete with Telstra's Next G network, which currently holds the most number of subscribers in Australia (9.3 million). The plan includes the expansion of UMTS 900/2100 MHz coverage in 900 metropolitan sites and 500 outer metropolitan sites across Australia, an end to the 3GIS network (3's UMTS 2100 MHz network, which it has a 50% stake with, the other 50% being held by Telstra), as well as the roll out of 1400 UMTS-850 base stations - 850 MHz being the same band in which the Next G network operates. VHA has spent $550 million on the project so far.
In the merger, Hutchison 3G Australia was renamed VHA Pty Limited, and half was sold to Vodafone Group.
The ownership structure of the merged entity became:
adds over 170 stores.
"3"-branded stores are already owned by VHA.
Vodafone Australia
Vodafone Australia is a mobile telephone company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Hutchison Australia. Vodafone Australia was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Plc ....
, '3'
Hutchison 3G
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
and Crazy John's
Crazy John's
Crazy John's is a mobile phone retail chain in Australia started by late Turkish/Australian businessman John Ilhan. Crazy John's is the largest independent phone retailer in Australia, employing more than 700 people with over 120 retail stores. Following his death, Mr Ilhan's wife Patricia sold...
brands in Australia. The result of a merger between Vodafone Australia
Vodafone Australia
Vodafone Australia is a mobile telephone company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Hutchison Australia. Vodafone Australia was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Plc ....
and Hutchison 3G Australia
Hutchison 3G
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
, it created a mobile communications entity of nearly 7 million subscribers, A$4 billion in annual revenue and a 27 per cent market share making it Australia's third largest mobile telcommunications provider behind Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
and Optus
Optus
SingTel Optus Pty Limited is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications...
.
The joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
entity is owned by Hutchison Telecommunications Australia (a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...
) and by the Vodafone Group PLC on a 50-50 basis. It was formed on 10 June 2009, after shareholder and ACCC
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent authority of the Australia government. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974...
approval. At the time of the merger, VHA chief executive Nigel Dews said "the first priority is around people and getting the organisation and the organisational structure sorted out", and that head office functions would see the greatest redundancies.
VHA is now phasing out the Three brand mid 2011. No registration of new subscribers to Three as they will now be Vodafone customers.
Networks
Vodafone's GSM: Vodafone's 2G GSM service on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz covers 94.52% of the population. In major cities the 2G GSM network offers GPRSGeneral Packet Radio Service
General packet radio service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications . GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode...
data connections, elsewhere the faster EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
is available.
Vodafone's 3G 2100 MHz: Vodafone's UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a third generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed by the 3GPP , UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for...
network is available in metro areas of major cities and some larger regional centres covering 80% of the population. In major cities, Optus and Vodafone share towers and a single set of 3G antennas and feeders, as well as equipment shelters for their respective base stations - and for some locations share a 3G base station as well. Outside of major cities, Vodafone and Optus work independently. 3G users outside of major cities use either Vodafone 2100 MHz 3G towers, Vodafones new 3G 900 MHz 3G coverage, or fall back to GSM services.
Vodafone's 3G 900 MHz: Expansion of Vodafone's 3G UMTS network was completed in October 2009, and uses 900 MHz for 3G services outside of capital cities, to equal or surpass their older GSM coverage.
Vodafone's 3G 850 MHz: Vodafone are currently rolling out new 850 MHz 3G towers and adding 850 MHz equipment to existing towers, to boost signal in-building, relieve capacity in metropolitan areas and provide a better experience for 850 MHz compatible smartphones. The 850 MHz spectrum belonged to Hutchison prior to the merger and was used by their brand Orange.
Three's 3G 2100 MHz: Three operates a 2100 MHz 3G network in a 50/50 partnership with Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
(the radio networks are shared, the core networks are separate), covering approximately 56% of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's population. The 3G network covers Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Geelong
Geelong, Victoria
Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, south-west of the state capital; Melbourne. It is the second most populated city in Victoria and the fifth most populated non-capital city in Australia...
, Frankston
Frankston, Victoria
Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula...
and Wollongong
Wollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
. In areas not covered by the joint 3G network, customers are able to roam on Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
's Next G
Next G
Next G is a third generation mobile telecommunication network operated by Telstra in Australia.-Background:After a review, Telstra announced a plan to upgrade its ageing networks and systems; which includes a new 3G network to replace the then current CDMA mobile network.-Construction:The network...
850 MHz 3G network (if the phone supports it), and Telstra's 900 MHz and 1800 MHz 2G networks. This agreement allows Three to offer coverage to up to 96% of the population.
The Vodafone 2G and 3G (2100/900 MHz) networks originally operated as a single network, separate to the Three network. During the merger, VHA had made no comment on their intention to combine the 3 and Vodafone networks, or offer roaming between them. However, as of late 2009, roaming onto the Vodafone's 2G network was enabled for Three customers in areas that had limited 3G coverage (e.g. blackspots), handsets now show '3 2G' instead of 'Roaming'. There are no additional charges in '3's 2G zone', although data speeds are limited.
In late 2010 VHA announced plans to consolidate the Three and Vodafone networks, in an attempt to better compete with Telstra's Next G network, which currently holds the most number of subscribers in Australia (9.3 million). The plan includes the expansion of UMTS 900/2100 MHz coverage in 900 metropolitan sites and 500 outer metropolitan sites across Australia, an end to the 3GIS network (3's UMTS 2100 MHz network, which it has a 50% stake with, the other 50% being held by Telstra), as well as the roll out of 1400 UMTS-850 base stations - 850 MHz being the same band in which the Next G network operates. VHA has spent $550 million on the project so far.
Ownership structure
Before the merger:- Vodafone Group PLC owned Vodafone Australia Limited (which runs the Vodafone network)
- Hutchison Whampoa Limited owns 52% of Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited ("HTAL"), which owned Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Limited ("H3GA") (which runs the "3" network)
In the merger, Hutchison 3G Australia was renamed VHA Pty Limited, and half was sold to Vodafone Group.
The ownership structure of the merged entity became:
- Vodafone Group owns 50% of VHA Pty Limited
- Hutchison Telecommunications Australia owns 50%of VHA Pty Limited
- VHA Pty Limited owns 100% of Vodafone Australia Limited
Retail Stores
During the merger, Vodafone Hutchison Australia announced it would buy out its Vodafone branded stores, previously run by the retail management groups Digicall, First Mobile, Inside Mobile and GSM. The new retail structure will lift VHA's current headcount by 1400 to 5100 staff, andadds over 170 stores.
"3"-branded stores are already owned by VHA.