Vodafone has announced that it will kill off the ‘3’ brand that it inherited after merging its Australian operations with Hutchison (3’s parent company) two years ago.
“It’s now been two years since we brought 3 and Vodafone together. We wanted to give all our 3 customers the latest update on what’s been happening and some exciting changes for the future,” the company said on its website.
“Over the next few months you’ll start to see the distinctive red Vodafone logo along with the 3 logo, in places such as this website, when you recharge and on your monthly bill. It’s all part of moving to one brand.”
For existing customers, nothing will change. ‘3’ services will still continue to run and prepaid customers will be able to still recharge their credits. New customers, and those looking to renew their plans, will be pointed towards Vodafone as the company will no longer accept new customers.
It wasn’t unexpected, however. The company planned to kill off one of the two brands that were merged to create Vodafone Hutchison Australia. The deal created a stronger third carrier in Australia, and merged their store operations – most of which have been rebranded to Vodafone.
However, it is indeed an end to an era. ‘3’ was one of the first carriers to offer 3G connectivity, and it was done in a 50-50 partnership with Telstra. Now, just a few years later, the carriers have picked up their game and now offering reasonable caps on 3G use. But 3G itself is on its final legs, as telcos are now moving towards 4G standards – such as LTE (Long-Term Evolution).
Background image of above: EvinDC/Flickr (Creative Commons); logos from Wikipedia.