The operator continues to innovate on price as Orange’s 5G upgrade offer sees median speeds still growing in France
The last time Ookla reviewed the French 5G market, Orange’s decision to open up its 5G network to all its 4G customers across France at no additional cost was already seeing 5G median speeds for all providers combined reaching 216.69Mbps during 1H 2024, compared to 50.93Mbps for 4G-LTE. The incumbent was also leading across multiple 5G measures.
Free has chosen to fight back through price innovation, and specifically, price freezes. In 2022, when it was celebrating its tenth anniversary the operator promised not to raise the prices of its two mobile plans (the €2 Plan and the €19.99/month Free Mobile Plan) before 2027. Three years on, Free said it delivered on the promise and is going to do it all again.
Given cost of living pressures, and the fact that the only increased profitability mobile operators are really seeing is coming from inevitable “price changes”, Free claims it is the only operator to have made such a pledge. Free owner Iliad has a good track record of controlling its costs by using shared infrastructure when possible, so even as it builds out is 5G network, the operator feels it can make the price promise.
With 5G population coverage of nearly 95% at end-2024, Free said it is increasing the footprint of its latest-generation mobile network and still claims the largest 5G network in France in terms of number of sites. This includes 19,945 sites using 700MHz/3.5GHz frequencies (of which 7,005 3.5GHz sites) in Metropolitan France as at 30 September 2024. Free claims a few network firsts too, stating it was France’s first telco to offer 5G 3.5GHz SA on its public network on a national scale for 5G Free Mobile Plan subscribers, without any increase in the price of the plan.
Price plan
Free said it was also the first telco to launch VoNR (Voice over New Radio) in France. The operator also made RCS on iPhone available and launched texts over wi-fi (iOS and Android) and LTE (iOS and Android).
But competition is ramping up on 5G and Orange can position itself as having a superior 5G experience. The net result is for Free to play to its strengths around product simplification without superfluous options.
“This commitment we’ve given – which is both courageous and unprecedented – is, more than ever, a perfect fit with our strategy, said Free CEO Nicolas Thomas (above). “Having frozen our prices, and thanks to our ongoing focus on simplicity and generosity, we’re staying true to our values and we’ll continue to innovate in order to remain a weapon against inflation and carry on protecting consumers’ purchasing power.”
Since its launch in 2012, Free has regularly added new services to its 5G Free Mobile Plan at no extra cost for either new or current subscribers. Some of the 2024 changes Free made have included:
> two increases in the 5G Free Mobile Plan’s 5G/4G data allowance usable in Metropolitan France, first from 250GB to 300GB in May, and then to 350GB in October.
> 13 new roaming destinations added (5G or 4G depending on the destination), bringing the total number included in the 5G Free Mobile Plan’s roaming data allowance (35 GB/month) to over 110.
> The OQEE by Free TV app added to the 5G Free Mobile Plan in January 2024, offering 230 TV channels in the plan and over 500 movies and series included via the OQEE Ciné service.
> The Free FOOT app added as from the start of the season of the Ligue 1 McDonald’s championship. This service is available to all football fans, irrespective of their mobile provider.
It remains to be seen whether only price will sway subscribers either way but Free has always had the ability to help subscribers feel they are getting value for the right price. In the past, Iliad has also been content with using fixed-mobile bundles to increase ARPUs in the countries it is operating in and this means it is willing to absorb any impact of a price freeze.