Why has my iphone carrier changed whilst abroad?

So I'm from the UK and I'm with "3" network. I have travelled to Spain today and my iphone says orange is my carrier! Why is this? Can someone explain why I'm not getting 3?

It's not the same 'orange' company it's just the same name, your in a different county so English networks don't reach that far.It'll be really expensive to use while your abroad so just try not to use it to much.

Its because 3 doesn't operate in Spain & they have a carrier/roaming agreement with Orange. It is very normal procedure. By the way that means you are roaming & doing anything pretty much runs a steep cost, so use the phone wisely while there.

To give an example my local carrier is bmobile but when I travel to the US it was Cingular (now AT&T). Same agreement, 2 different carriers.