Mobile: Free close to victory
On Thursday the seven "wise men" of Arcep, met in college under the chairmanship of Jean-Ludovic Silicani in their premises near the Montparnasse Tower, will take a decision fraught with consequences. They should decide to award the fourth mobile telephone license in Free, having scrutinized the record of some 80 000 pages. Their decision will be officially known Friday morning. After a call for nominations, one has answered this Free.
If he gets the license, pay to the Free State, from January 2010, a check for 240 million euros for the price of the license, and will market its first subscription once it has deployed its network. It will not be before early 2012.
This decision is very important because it is the first major upset of the mobile market, which has hardly changed since the arrival of Bouygues Telecom in 1996.Meanwhile, 96% of French are equipped with the mobile has become an object indispensable for ordinary life.
For French, this increased competition should result in lower prices, better packages, technical innovations. A dynamic that all competitors should follow to avoid being left behind. The arrival of Free should benefit all consumers, whether or not customers Free.
That is the calculation of the Premier, enamored of technology and anxious purchasing power of French, who personally argued the case for months. In any case the promise of Xavier Niel, the main shareholder of Free and strategy director, who has promised to halve the average bill for a household of three people.A savings of about 1 000 euros per year.
Competitors on the defensive
The efforts of Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom to prevent the arrival of this new competitor will be defeated. Certainly, they have filed complaints with various authorities in Brussels and the Council of State, which are still ongoing. All three went to the obvious: Free arrives and nothing will stop it. At most, they hope to recognize that the Free State has benefited by granting the license for 240 million euros, when each had to pay 619 million euros. But the outcome of those complaints is uncertain.
Meanwhile, everyone is preparing their own way. SFR merged with Neuf Cegetel, and is judged and ready to confront the offensive. "The merger SFR Neuf is our best response to the arrival of Free" repeated Frank Esser, Chairman of SFR.
Orange, who was on the defensive for months, rates of speech with the arrival of new orders to number two, St?phane Richard. "My priority is to prepare the best Orange on his arrival in loyalty to our customers and by increasing innovation," he said in an interview with Le Figaro.
As for Bouygues Telecom, has launched Ideo, first offer quadruplay market last June, and reaping new Internet subscribers. Meanwhile, it seeks to reduce its fixed costs in anticipation of a price war announced by Free. Olivier Roussat, its director general, said "a hiring freeze since announcing the launch of the call for applications.
"Subscription, price, services … the new operator in six issues