3 will be allowing consumers to earn cash by promoting free Pay As You Go SIMs to their friends and family using their own social networks. The 3 Free Agent programme is the first scheme of this kind available in the UK.

3’s Head of Online, Ash Roots said: “We are looking to drive distribution and use of 3 PAYG SIMs by giving people an easy way to earn money from us. We want to give them something back for recommending new customers to us.”

“The idea is simple.  Use your social networks to give free 3 PAYG SIMs to your mates.  As soon as they put their free SIM into a 3G phone and top-up, you’ll get £5 cash paid into a Pay Pal account and your friends get £2 extra applied to their PAYG credit. Get 10 friends signed up and topped up and that’s £50 in your pocket.”

Registering to become a 3 Free Agent is quick, simple and free to anyone.  Once signed up agents will be given all the tools they need. Freeagent.three.co.uk will host a dedicated portal that allows them to organise and email their contacts and keep a track on how much money will be paid into their PayPal account once their ‘shopper’ has topped up.  Coming soon is a Facebook widget allowing 3 Free Agents to personalise it to their home page and promote Free SIMs to their wider social networks.

3’s Head of Online, Ash Roots continued: “There is nothing new in giving away free SIMs as SIM only is a growing section of the PAYG market. But 3 Free Agents is the first UK initiative available now that rewards customers with cold hard cash for promoting and distributing SIMs using the internet.”

Customers who use their free SIMs in 3G handsets will benefit from free text, internet and 3-to-3 calls for 90 days after top up, even if they run out of credit.  Customers with compatible 3G handsets can also enjoy free Skype-to-Skype calls and messages as well as Windows Live Messenger even without topping up – more great reasons to get your friends onto 3.