The recently released financial report for 3 has shown that its mobile broadband service has played a big part in its subscriber base rising to 4.7 million.

With what could possibly have been a bad start to the year 3 has been rescued by the extra four hundred thousand mobile dongle users it has received and in March this year 3 had four and a half million customers rising in June to reach 4.7 million. In the mobile broadband dongle sector it currently has about a sixty percent share of the current market which makes it the biggest mobile provider by far.

Statistics have shown that 3’s mobile dongle produces less revenue on average than the standard voice and text package with a five percent drop in the average customer spend to £37.07. The dongles do, however, have an advantage over voice calls in that there are no termination fees. Although 3 has made no mention of how much of a cost reduction it will be making the fact that there are far fewer customers leaving its network than in the last few years and the added fact that getting new custom is costing them less is a real positive.

One of the key concerns 3 currently has is the low growth rate on its revenue, having pulled in just £772 million between January and June of this year. This compared to far greater growth for a number of other providers such as Vodafone, which pulled in £2.4bn over the same period; O2, with £2.7bn; T-Mobile with £1.4bn; and Orange with £2.1bn.

The issue with revenue growth is considered by 3’s UK CEO, Kevin Russell as being the company’s main priority. He stated ‘In five years’ time, 3 needs to be double the size it is today. Double in terms of revenue and margin size.’

When asked about 3 one analyst said ‘The revenue is a problem for them. It needs to be the focus because their costs are stabilising, and they need to quickly improve the turnover to establish themselves as a major player. It’s too slow, and too little at the moment.’