France - Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts, New Report Launched

This report assesses France’s large and mature telecom market. It provides an overview of the fixed-line segment, including key statistics and an analysis of telcos’ strategies and operational performance in recent years, as also the key regulatory issues such as number portability, wholesaling and carrier preselection. The report also reviews the fixed and mobile broadband segments, focussing on cable, fibre and DSL technologies including ADSL2+ and VDSL2 and DSL vectoring, as well as technologies such as HSPA and LTE. The mobile market is covered in depth, including spectrum licensing and regulatory issues, as well as profiling the major players and their strategies in an increasingly competitive market. Several forecasts are provided for the mobile and broadband markets.

Mobile market price competition leads to further consolidation

• France has one of the largest telecoms market in Europe, supported by a population of around 63 million. The incumbent, France Telecom/Orange, is one of the world’s major players with interests in markets across Europe, the Middle East and francophone Africa. The telco’s market dominance has been eroded through increasing competition from a number of major players, in turn encouraging it to invest in a national fibre network to improve its network capabilities and consumer offerings.
• France has the third largest broadband subscriber base in Europe. DSL dominates broadband access, and though the cable footprint only reaches about 40% of the population the main cableco Numéricable has upgraded its network to compete with DSL, and has itself entered the DSL market through the acquisition of DSL-based market players. Fibre deployment has developed a significant and growing market presence in recent years, supported by an effective regulatory and legislative regime which promotes fibre network sharing and optimises operators’ investment strategies.
• France is also one of Europe’s key markets for telecom convergence and bundled services, and has Europe’s largest IPTV sector. The success of service bundles largely rests on fierce competition which has reduced the cost of bundles while raising the quantity and quality of services offered.
• The mobile phone market, worth some €15 billion in 2013, has undergone significant changes in recent years. The regulator was keen to promote the entry of a new player, and the subsequent efforts of Free Mobile resulted in price competition between the MNOs Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. SFR became the main casualty of this process, with the operator being sold to Numéricable in early 2014. The deal will go far to introducing further market consolidation and to encouraging operators to provide a full range of services to customers to secure a competitive edge.

Key developments:

• SRF and Bouygues Telecom sign network sharing deal;
• Auction for 700MHz anticipated later in 2014;
• 4G available nationally;
• Vivendi sells SFR to Altice Group;
• Bouygues Telecom joins the Telefónica Partners Program;
• Virgin Mobile launches quad-play service;
• Bouygues Telecom buy’s KPN’s MVNO Simyo;
• Vivendi acquires 20% stake in Canal+ France held by Lagardère Group;
• DVB-T2 standard may be adopted by end-2015;
• Orange TV migrates to single access platform;
• Regulator consults on FttDP architecture;
• Free launches 1Gb/s service;
• Orange invests €2 billion to provide 15 million households with FttP by 2015;
• Regulator consults on 3.5GHs spectrum for broadband use;
• Government promotes €20 billion investment for national FttP network by 2023;
• Orange signs joint network deals with Iliad,
• SFR and Bouygues to expand FttP in rural areas;
• Regulator’s market data to December 2013; telcos’ operating data to Q1 2014;
• Market developments to May 2014;
• Regulator’s market data updates to December 2013;
• Operator data to Q1 2014;
• Market developments to May 2014.

Spanning over 161 pages, “France - Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts” report covering the Key Statistics, Telecommunications Market, Regulatory Environment, Fixed Network Operators, Telecommunications Infrastructure, Broadband Market, Digital Media, Mobile Communications, Forecasts. The report covered 12 companies - France Telecom/Orange, SFR, Free Mobile, Bouygues Telecom, Canal+, Iliad, Numéricable, Vivendi, TPS, AB Group, TNTSat, Canal+

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