Free elected fourth mobile operator
Posted by admin | Under business, life, online, people, world Saturday Dec 19, 2009Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom will now share the telephony market with a fourth mobile operator. Free, a subsidiary of Iliad, has won the fourth license enforced through Arcep cons 240 million euros. Free file has been evaluated using several criteria, the most important being the "coherence and credibility of the project" and the "coverage territory", according to the release of the Regulatory Authority.In exchange, the news was very well received as evidenced by the share price Iliad, the parent of Freer, earning 3.38% to 83.49 euros.
"The arrival of this new actor should have a positive effect on the dynamic market of mobile telephony and, more generally, should be a positive factor for the development of electronic communications services," said the Authority has long criticized the lack of competition in mobile telephony.
Free operator had made known in 2003 by "breaking" the prices of holidays, being the first in France to offer a triple play (phone / internet / TV) for less than 30 euros, forcing competition to align its rates. A floor rate which was recently taken down by Numericable, then taken to account by the con own subsidiary of Iliad, Alice.
Free "undertake (…) to open its mobile network commercially within two years after the issuance of the permit and to cover the next eight years, at least 90% of the population by its 3G network." In other words, the subsidiary of Iliad should offer its new phone packages as early as January 2010, the official date of award of the license, and no later than early 2012.