Vodafone and 3 get up close and personal

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) yesterday announced that it was launching free standard voice calls in Australia between Vodafone and 3 networks.

The offer would be available "by the end of July" for Vodafone and 3 customers who had signed up to a post-paid cap of over $29 a month since 11 March 2010, the company said in a statement.

The offer is tipped to benefit 6 million Vodafone and 3 customers.

3 stores will begin selling the Vodafone range of mobile phones, mobile broadband devices, prepaid and post-paid caps and plans from 21 July 2010, with the stores to be "multi-branded".

VHA's 120 Vodafone stores will get a new "brand look" and will be refitted. However, the company has not called this refitting "multi-branding", suggesting that the stores will remain pure Vodafone.

The plan to multi-brand all stores has come one year after the two companies merged their Australian operations.

"Until now, the merger and integration of 3 and Vodafone has essentially been behind the scenes, focussed primarily on bringing our people, our customer service capabilities and IT systems together," said Nigel Dews, chief executive officer of VHA. "Now we're providing our customers with a great choice of products and services that bring the best of both brands to their fingertips."