French regulator Arcep is considering a request to extend the roaming agreement which allows Free Mobile to use Orange’s 2G and 3G network.
The extension would be for two years to December 31, 2022.
The deal was first struck in 2011, when Free Mobile entered the market, to run until December 2020. The extension follows a request from Free Mobile based on a need to offer competitive coverage.
Since 2015, Arcep has had the power to request that mobile operators amend their network-sharing agreements to meet regulatory obligations. Free Mobile and Orange amended their agreement in 2016 to include the gradual termination of roaming by reducing speeds until 31 December 2020.
If the latest contractual amendment is agreed, Free Mobile customers’ roaming upstream and downstream speeds would be capped at 384 Kbits in 2021 and 2022. There would also be no increase in the capacity of interconnection links between the Free Mobile and Orange core networks for roaming.
The amendment sets out the financial terms that would apply in 2021 and 2022. This includes a financial mechanism which would be introduced in 2022 to encourage “a reduction in the number of Free Mobile customers who are using Orange’s 2G/3G network”.