All posts in Bouygues
With 10 million subscribers, 4G starts to win over France
After a healthy start 18 months ago, 4G has begun to seduce the French public, with 10 million users now signed-up. The uptake of 4G was historically fast, with users taking to 4G 10 times faster than they did with 3G. Although Europe clearly trailed the US the roll-out of 4G, clearly things are […]
Orange finally joins effort to bring 3G and 4G to Paris metro
After holding out due to its concerns over RATP’s high fees, Orange have finally signed on to bring its 3G and 4G services to Paris’ metro system. Bouygues and SFR accepted to join the effort last year, so with Orange finally coming on board, the vast majority (roughly 75%) of metro commuters will be covered […]
4G off to a roaring start in France
1.5 million. That’s the number of mobile customers that have jumped to 4G in just a little over a month. After struggling for some time to respond to Free’s shakeup of the mobile market just under two years ago, France’s established telco giants are responding more adeptly as of late. While they all moved to […]
Virgin Mobile’s new 4G plan may just be Bouygues Telecom’s comeback
Update: this post originally announced that Virgin Mobile would be offering a 4G plan for 19,99€/month. In fact, Virgin Mobile made two big announcements at once – a 4G Plan in partnership with Bouygues, and a new 19,99€/month 3G mobile plan – we inadvertently referred to them as the same announcement, and have subsequently updated […]
Doubling its market share in just one year, Free continues to shake up France’s telco market
Last week, Iliad, Free’s parent company, announced some very big results, proving that despite Orange’s, SFR’s and Bouygues‘ fairly effective response to Free’s entry into mobile, Free’s momentum isn’t slowing. If anything, it looks to be picking up steam. Some of the big highlights were – a doubling of its market share to 10% in […]
In 2012, Mobile service prices dropped 11% due to Free Mobile (of course)
Free’s entry into the mobile space continues to profoundly transform the French mobile space. According to 2012 figures from ARCEP, mobile contract prices in France dropped 11,4% in 2012 pretty much entirely due to the Free effect. This drop was consistent when looking at mobile contract pricing (with engagement), which declined 12%. For mobile services […]
Orange ratchets up mobile battle with Free with launch of new Sosh quadruple play offer
Orange’s ultra-low cost mobile brand Sosh is now being extended into Free’s most profitable territory, fixed internet service. Orange announced this week that they will soon be launching a new quadruple play, non-engagement offer under the Sosh brand, including mobile, internet, TV and telephone service. The price of the offer will vary between 34.90€ – 54.90€ […]
S&P highlights French mobile operator troubles, takes France Telecom down a grade
Citing concerns about mobile pricing pressure in the French market and an anticipated big drop in France Telecom / Orange’s earnings, S&P has decided to follow Fitch’s lead and cut France Telecom’s debt rating to BBB+, the third lowest investment grade. This cut puts France Telecom somewhere in the middle of the European telco pack […]
Is Bouygues automatically signing you up to a 20€/month service?
Reports are coming in on internet forums that Bouygues subscribers are receiving confirmation emails for a service called CellPass, which offers “each week 5 downloadable products to choose from among 50,000 ringtones, images, videos & applications.” The service, which costs an appalling 5€ per week, is even more appalling when you take into account the fact that users receiving […]
Consumer complaints about mobile services skyrocketing in France
In 2012, Afutt (the French association for telcoms users) registered a record number of official complaints from subscribers about their mobile service. Although mobile contracts are getting cheaper and cheaper thanks to newbie Free Mobile as well as the incumbents who’ve been playing catch-up, consumers don’t look to any happier with their mobile services. In fact, […]