News
France to Slash Mobile Fees
(03 Dec 2008, BWCS Staff)
French telecoms regulator, Arcep, has decided in favour of imposing swinging wholesale mobile termination rate cuts on domestic operators. The new rates will come into effect in the second half of next year. The industry watchdog had opened a public consultation which lasted just over one month to examine the reductions. The move followed an earlier announcement that Arcep wanted to reduce mobile termination rates by around 30% next year.
The decision means that from the 1st July 2009, rates will come down from euros 0.065 to euros 0.045 per minute for Orange France and SFR, and from euros 0.085 to euros 0.06 for relative newcomer Bouygues Telecom. These rates will sink further in the second half of 2010, with Orange and SFR being allowed to charge a maximum of euros 0.03 per minute by then and Bouygues Telecom being forced to cut its rates to euros 0.04 per minute during the period.
Arcep said the move is aimed at reducing customer prices and will bring mobile service prices in France closer to those charged by fixed-line operators. Both Orange and SFR objected to the rate cut, arguing that operators would lose their incentive to invest in improving network coverage and service quality. This, in turn, the pair argued, would inhibit the growth of mobile internet coverage and services. However, it appears the regulator was unmoved by these arguments.
In October of this year, the French government announced its intention to launch a tender for a new 3G licence in the country, The sale, which is expected to go ahead early next year, forms part of a plan to remove the so-called digital divide in the nation. Eric Besson, the French minister for the digital economy, is behind the plan - called "Digital France 2012" which calls for the introduction of some 154 new measures aimed at providing broadband for all and covers mobile telephony, fixed line internet and broadcast TV services.
Back