Sfr

SFR goes commercial with femtos

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:39:13 -0500

Having earlier raised doubts over consumer enthusiasm for femtocells, SFR decided the time was right and has become the second operator after Vodafone UK to commercially launch a femtocell product in Europe.

Dubbed ‘SFR Home 3G', the company has positioned the device firmly at consumers looking to improve indoor 3G coverage, and willing to pay €199 for the privilege - a price similar to Vodafone UK's home femtocell which seemingly remains firmly off consumer's wish list.

According to SFR (which is 44 per cent owned by Vodafone), the femtocell is being sourced from UK-based Ubiquisys (Vodafone UK's comes from Alcatel-Lucent of France) and uses silicon developed by picoChip. The device, which SFR claims will offer services such as FMC in the future, also supports Kineto Wireless' femtocell network gateway.

However, the French operator was keen to clarify that this femtocell initiative was not part of a larger strategy to become a quad play operator - as seen with Bouygues Telecom. "We don't need this today, we still do four times as many sales than Bouygues, said CEO Frank Esser. "We will continue to watch this offer but we're in no rush."

Esser said the group is very happy with the commercial dynamic in its mobile operations, having sold more than 500,000 iPhones since it started selling them in April 2009. Esser said the company aims to sell over 600,000 by the end of the year.

For more on this story:
Rethink-Wireless and Total Telecom

Orange France to remain dominant operator, but with lower profits, claims forecast

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:51:07 -0400

A study of the French mobile market has forecast that the country is undergoing an economic recovery and the wireless sector will expand faster than predicted previously.

According to IE Market Research (IEMR), Orange France will retain its leadership position with 44.1 per cent of the overall subscriber base, which will increase from 57.4 million in 2008 to 65.9 million--up from the firm's previous estimate of 61.8 million--in 2013. "Orange will continue to be the largest operator, and we expect that its subscriber base will increase from 25.2 million in 2008 to 29.1 million--up from our previous forecast of 25.7 million, in 2013," said Nizar Assanie, VP of IEMR.

However, Assanie believes that, in terms of EBITDA margins, the profitability at Orange and SFR (part owned by Vodafone) will decline over the next five years. "Our model predicts that Orange's EBITDA margin will fall from 37.3 per cent to 33.1 per cent and SFR's margin will fall from 38.9 per cent to 33.6 per cent over the forecast period, 2008-2013. On the other hand, we forecast that Bouygues Telecom's EBITDA margin will improve from 28.5 per cent in 2008 to 31.2 per cent in 2013," said Assanie.

On a positive note, the IEMR study forecast that, despite the decline in ARPUs in the majority of mobile markets around the world, France should be stable over the next several years. "Our model forecasts that Orange's monthly ARPU will increase slightly from €33.19 in 2008 to €34.04 in 2013 while monthly ARPU at SFR declines from €36.04 in 2008 to €33.89 in 2013. Bouygues Telecom's ARPU level continues to be higher than the other operators' ARPU levels, with monthly ARPU at approximately €41.88 from 2009 to 2013.

For more on this story:
TMC

French president gets involved with fourth 3G licence

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:39:42 -0400

The level of political lobbying surrounding the granting of the fourth and final 3G licence has been revealed following reports that the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has expressed his reservations.

The three existing 3G operators are believed to be at the centre of these manoeuvrings, claiming that the applicant for the fourth licence will only be asked to pay €240 million, a fraction of the €619 million they each paid in 2001.

However, the involvement of the president of France in this argument significantly increases the pressure on the telecoms regulator to review the condition of the 3G tender. According to inside sources, Sarkozy was said to be sceptical on the choice of the fourth 3G operator, suggesting that the "lowest price was not necessarily the best one."

The French ISP Illiad is expected to be the most likely successful bidder, but, following Sarkozy's remarks, the value of the company's shares fell by over two per cent in a rising market. Other bidders interested in the fourth licence are expected to include a joint proposal from Numericable and Virgin Mobile, but observers remain doubtful of this combined bid making progress.

Orange and SFR have already threatened to challenge the bid price for this fourth 3G licence before the European Union competition authorities, while Bouygues Telecom said it too was considering action.

For more on this story:
Telegeography

French WiMAX licensee looks for operator partner

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:18:08 -0400

Having paid nearly €100 million for 20 regional WiMAX licences in France, Bolloré Telecom is now hoping to strike a partnership deal with Orange and SFR. The company, which is significantly behind schedule with its commercial WiMAX deployments, hopes it can generate revenues by partnering with the cell phone service providers looking to boost their data backhaul capabilities.

Local observers believe Bolloré Telecom needs to urgently boost its income and would be willing to form a joint venture with either Orange or SFR. This could see the mobile operator having access to Bolloré Telecom's WiMAX licences in return for access to the operator's customer base. However, an easier alternative would be for Bolloré Telecom to simply hand over its frequencies to either operator. How the French telecoms regulator might view such a transaction is not clear.

While WIMAX is slowly finding a home in Europe, its likelihood of ever being a significant force in mobile is fast diminishing with LTE deployment on the horizon. So, Bolloré Telecom's attempt to partner with a cellular operator to provide it with a high-speed wireless backhaul solution might be its best, and only, option.

For more on this story:
Total Telecom

French regulator to push for 3G network sharing

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:28:29 -0500

The three mobile operators in France will come under scrutiny from the National telecoms regulator, Arcep, with regard to 'encouraging' them to share their 3G network resources.

While Arcep has stated the process will be a public consultation exercise, it is thought the regulator is keen to examine and understand the conditions and extent to which the three operators could share their 3G resources across France. Network sharing is already possible, although France Telecom Orange, Vivendi SFR and Bouygues Telecom are not thought to have made use of the option.

This seeming reluctance to share network elements has prompted speculation that the regulator will define the conditions and the degree to which the three operators should (must?) share their 3G resources.

For more:
- go to Easybourse

Related articles:
T-Mobile and 3UK sign joint backhaul deal
New French 3G licence designed to trigger competition

'Unfair' scream French operators over rate cuts

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:42:04 -0400

French mobile operators have complained bitterly over the planned cuts to mobile termination rates as proposed by the French telecom regulator, Arcep. The new regulation would, maintained the operators, cut tens of millions of Euros from their annual revenues and represented an unjustified exception in Europe.

France Telecom Orange claimed it was surprised by the excessively low level of the proposed new rates, which would take France completely out of the European average. "This has to be viewed in the light that our French network is one of the most extended in Europe," said an Orange spokesman.

SFR joined Orange in deploring Arcep's plans. The company argued French termination rates were already 24 per cent below the European average. "These new termination rates would represent an unjustified exception in Europe," said SFR.

As of July next year, France Telecom Orange and SFR would have their termination rates cut from €0.065 to €0.045 a minute, and for Bouygues Telecom the new rate would drop from €0.08 to €0.06 per minute. Further cuts are planned 12 months after this date.

For more on this story:
- go to borsa italiana

Related articles:
Cut your SMS prices--PLEASE, says French government. French regulation story
French protest over EU super regulator plan. EU story

Revamped SFR targets Orange France

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:50:53 -0400

Having completed its €4.4 billion merger with fixed-line operator Neuf Cegetel, SFR is now targeting Orange France in enterprise services and content. The merger, which will see the disappearance of Neuf Cegetel as a brand, will boost the new company's expected revenue to €12 billion for 2008 and provide it with the size and clout to take on Orange.

According to Frank Esser, CEO of SFR, the company will now have around a 12 per cent share of the fixed enterprise market, and 36 per cent of the mobile enterprise spend, leaving plenty of potential for growth. "We are a real challenger to France Telecom."

SFR also plans to attack Orange's content business, and Esser was critical of Orange's investment in exclusive football rights and other content. "Our strategy is very different to that of Orange, which is starting to pay too much for content," said Esser, stating that Orange's recent €300 million spend on football rights in France amounted to "€30 per year per Orange customer. It's better to leave content to partners," Esser contended.

Esser also commented that he did not expect any change in the short term to SFR's shareholding. The company is presently 56 per cent owned by Vivendi and 44 per cent owned by Vodafone.

For more on this story:
- go to Total Telecom

Related articles:
Vodafone supports SFR's acquisition of cable operator. SFR story
Operators delay femtocell deployments. SFR story

Cut your SMS prices--PLEASE, says French government

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:57:53 -0400

The French population is beginning to complain loudly about increasing inflation, claims the French consumer goods minister, who has reacted by asking the country's three main operators--Orange, SFR and Bouygues, to cut SMS prices that have only fallen slightly over the past four years.

The minister, Luc Chatel, has urged the three operators to be aware of the problem faced by French consumers, and has invited them to make an example by cutting the cost of text messages.

The national regulator, Arcep, has provided support to Chatel's call by stating that French consumers on pay-as-you-go phones pay an average cost of €0.12 per text. This price has remained nearly constant since 2004 while the volume of texts has doubled in this period. Of interest are the prices of SMS from France's MVNOs that cost around 25-30 per cent less than from the three main operators. This 'consumer-pleasing' initiative by Chatel comes only days after the EU announced a proposal to slash by roughly two thirds the cost of text messages for people travelling between EU countries.

For more on this story:
- go to MoCo News

Related stories:
EU to impose heavy cuts to SMS roaming charges. EU SMS story
GSMA Responds To EU Proposals To Regulate Roaming Costs For Text Messaging. GSMA story

Operators delay femtocell deployments

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:56:10 -0400

While the enthusiasm for femtocells continues unabated, several of the mobile operators that have lead the charge are having second thoughts due to unresolved technical issues and unclear business cases.

These concerns came to the surface during the Femtocell Europe 2008 conference when SFR said it had delayed selecting a femtocell supplier because of undefined industry standards. The company said that the expected deployment of the technology now would not commence until sometime next year.

SFR, of which Vodafone Group owns 44 per cent, participated in Vodafone's group-level request for proposals for femtocells last year, but it also issued its own RFQ separately. "We're assessing another technology in parallel," said Thierry Berthouloux, network solutions director at SFR. "However, we have decided to extend that assessment period and have put this process on hold to give equipment suppliers time to consolidate roadmaps. There's no point making a decision today."

According to those close to the situation, the issue for the major operators in agreeing to a standard is the need for clarity on 3GPP status and the lack of resource being provided by the larger femtocell vendors to achieve this.

For more on this story:
- go to Unstrung

Related stories:
EMEA trials Femtocells. Motorola femtocell story
Femto Forum looks to agree on 4G/WiMAX integration standards. Femtocell standards story