In the UK - to sell their network to an overseas buyer - perhaps one of
the major EU players which doesn't control a UK network yet. To do this
they need market share and retention of customers.

I'm not keeping track like I used to - but if you remember, Three
initially launched their network like this - offering deals that
offered at least double the value of the others. The reason for this is
that Three's Customer Support and Service offering was far below any
other operator, and their only real selling point was a budget price.

I think this is still largely true today. They need to get the
customers by whatever means, in order for the stock market to take them
seriously. They also earn cash off the other operators for any incoming
calls, for which they need to have customers to be called.

So, there's no real catch, apart from potentially poor customer
service.

d

henryl@inbox.com declared for all the world to hear...

The same as any business - to make as much money as possible.

50% market share, you've got to be kidding right? Vodafone, Orange and O2
are the big players.