Elaine Carey, the chief executive of Three Ireland, launched an enterprise-agile overhaul less than a year after taking the helm, aiming to make the carrier more responsive to rapidly shifting market needs.
Turning the organization upside down
After studying agile frameworks, Carey convened a gathering of 700 staff and partners at Dublin’s 3Arena in September. She framed the meeting as a chance to dismantle old structures and rebuild them around cross-functional teams.
The new model introduces “squads” that combine product, technology and operations staff, regular town-hall briefings, quarterly business reviews and a system of objectives and key results (OKRs). Carey says the language of the business has been “completely and utterly changed” as a result.
“I think we had to believe we had to do it because we had lost a little bit of our customer-centricity, and we’re here to service our customers,” she explains.
She added that the organization had become “too big with too many layers,” supporting a “command and control” culture that slowed decision-making.
Since the shift, internal surveys show higher engagement, with employees who have adopted the new ways “absolutely loving it.”
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She highlighted engagement metrics, saying, “And what we’re seeing now with our engagement scores is people who are engaged in it and living in that new world are absolutely loving it.” This observation shows that the cultural overhaul is translating into morale gains across squads.
Network investment fuels growth
Parallel to the cultural change, Three Ireland completed a €1.1 billion upgrade of its 4G and 5G infrastructure. The enhanced network handled record traffic during high-profile events such as the recent Katie Taylor fight at Croke Park.
Data consumption has risen 460% over the past five years, showing the need for capacity expansion.
Financially, the carrier reported a 6% rise in its subscriber base to 5.6 million in the first half of 2026. Revenue grew 2% to €314 million, while EBITDA increased 5% to €88 million.
Carey highlighted that the firm now controls just over 50% of the national SIM market, noting that this will be critically important as smart-city projects, automation and 5G-standalone services expand.
Majority shareholder Li Ka-Shing encourages growth above all else, a stance that aligns with the carrier’s recent capital outlays.
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Earlier in the day, Carey spoke before an audience of 1,200 at the Executive Women Gathering. She noted that women hold fewer than one-fifth of CEO roles in large enterprises, a statistic she cited from the CSO, and reminded listeners that engineering remains about 80% male, but progress is “very, very slowly” improving.
Three is now in its fifth year of offering scholarships to female students of STEM subjects at Trinity College Dublin, a step she sees as helping to change the pipeline.
Leadership experience and sector outlook
Her career includes senior positions at CompuB and Digicel, as well as leading Three’s retail division before assuming the chief executive role.
The previous chief commercial officer role for Three UK & Ireland left her frustrated by insufficient network upgrades in the British capital, where peak-hour service often faltered.
The wider telecoms industry in Ireland has pumped €5.5 billion into infrastructure.
Technology focus and market diversification
Three plans to broaden its catalogue beyond conventional mobile contracts, exploring complementary offerings that align with emerging smart-city and automation initiatives.
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