Internet in France
Encyclopedia
In metropolitan France
, intense competition between Internet
service providers has led to the introduction of moderately-priced high speed ADSL up to 28 Mbit/s (ATM
) for 29,90€ per month. They often include other services such as unlimited free VoIP telephone
communications to land lines, and digital television
. Dial-up internet access is considered outdated.
For many years now, quotas have been seen as outdated and consequently, all the broadband internet offers in France are now unmetered.
In 2006, ISP announced deployment of fibre-optic offers (such as Erenis FTTB in Paris). Iliad
is expected to launch a FTTH service on early 2009 up to 100 Mbit/s, France Telecom
is testing FTTH technology in Paris
with a large 2.5 down/1.2 up Gbit/s backbone. This service is available for 70€/month.
Neuf Cegetel
offers 50 Mbit/s up/down FTTH for 35€/month in Paris and Pau, while Numericable
offers 100/5 Mbit/s cable connection in the biggest French cities for 30€/month.
connections, of which 94% are ADSL
subscribers. This makes France the second largest ADSL market in Europe. At the end of 2005, 30% of those DSL lines were unbundled
, and 37% of those unbundled lines were totally unbundled without any direct invoicing of the historical operator and a greater progression rate than partial unbundling. At the end of September 2005, more than 95% of the population can have a DSL connection, albeit some of them only 512/128.
The trend is a slow augmentation for the challengers at the expense of Orange SA.
Those triple play
offers were initiated by Free with the Freebox
modem, and are expanding to all major players, driving the French market.
As the market matures, it is beginning to open to smaller "boutique" broadband suppliers that specialize in meeting the needs of specific market segments. For example, Teleconnect France has introduced an AngloPack ADSL/VOIP service for the 250,000 English-speaking expats residing in France, featuring 20 MB/s connection speeds; free calls to the UK, USA and other anglophone countries; provision of a local UK number permitting a user's family and friends to call the user's VOIP line in France at the cost of a local call; and full customer service in English. Teleconnect is the only broadband service provider in France with an English help desk.
First prices between 15€ and 20€ per month remain for a small usage with limited throughput around one megabit per second (but often ADSL2 max in unbundled zones). Those prices can also be attained with complete unbundling, saving the monthly 15€ for the POTS
subscription while retaining the triple play services. Those offers of naked DSL are also available in non-unbundled areas, and can led to the economy of the traditional telephone subscription.
, Reach Extended ADSL for 8 km lines soon. Experiments aren't any more the Iliad
/Free trademark: they recently demonstrated an aggregated 174 Mbit/s link, while Telecom Italia
innovates on the service with a free hotline and France Telecom is pushing VDSL.
In December 2005, Free enabled a TV multicasting service on the customer's local network, an open solution based on RTSP. This completes the media center capability of the freebox, also using the VideoLAN
project. They launched on April 2006 a new Freebox divided in two devices with DVB-T
and HDTV capabilities and a Mimo WiFi
network.
Quadruple play
, triple play with mobile communications, is available: Neuf Cegetel
is selling for 200€ and 1€ with a plan Twin, a GSM/WiFi hybrid telephone after the experimental beautifulphone, by the means of a QTek 8300 and Wanadoo sells Unik, a Motorola, Nokia or Samsung handset for 100€. Free develops a wifi mesh network of HD freebox
es to be used to provide mobile telephony and compete with traditional cellular operators.
to prevent internet piracy. After downloading illegal files three times, a user's connection might be suspended.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, intense competition between Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
service providers has led to the introduction of moderately-priced high speed ADSL up to 28 Mbit/s (ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
) for 29,90€ per month. They often include other services such as unlimited free VoIP telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
communications to land lines, and digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
. Dial-up internet access is considered outdated.
For many years now, quotas have been seen as outdated and consequently, all the broadband internet offers in France are now unmetered.
In 2006, ISP announced deployment of fibre-optic offers (such as Erenis FTTB in Paris). Iliad
Iliad (company)
Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founded by Xavier Niel in 1999....
is expected to launch a FTTH service on early 2009 up to 100 Mbit/s, France Telecom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
is testing FTTH technology in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with a large 2.5 down/1.2 up Gbit/s backbone. This service is available for 70€/month.
Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel is a French wireline telecom services provider and a mobile virtual network operator offering different services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking number two in the country...
offers 50 Mbit/s up/down FTTH for 35€/month in Paris and Pau, while Numericable
Numericable
Numericable is a British-American-Luxembourgian owned cable television operator operating in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, currently proposing standard quadruple-play services .- History :...
offers 100/5 Mbit/s cable connection in the biggest French cities for 30€/month.
Lines
On 3 December 2008, France had 16.3 million broadbandBroadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
connections, of which 94% are ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
Asymmetric digital subscriber line is a type of digital subscriber line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice...
subscribers. This makes France the second largest ADSL market in Europe. At the end of 2005, 30% of those DSL lines were unbundled
Local loop unbundling
Local loop unbundling is the regulatory process of allowing multiple telecommunications operators to use connections from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises...
, and 37% of those unbundled lines were totally unbundled without any direct invoicing of the historical operator and a greater progression rate than partial unbundling. At the end of September 2005, more than 95% of the population can have a DSL connection, albeit some of them only 512/128.
ADSL Market
- Orange SAOrange SAOrange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. It is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world, with 210 million customers . The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was...
, previously known in France as WanadooWanadooWanadoo is the former name of the ISP division of Orange SA, which is a subsidiary of France Télécom. It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon, and Jordan...
, a subsidiary of France TelecomFrance TélécomFrance Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
, is the leader with half of the market with 49.3% (end 2007), helped by the reputation and availability of physical shops of the incumbent operator to overcome slightly higher prices because of its obligation of using fixed prices. - Free (subsidiary of IliadIliad (company)Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founded by Xavier Niel in 1999....
) with 19.6% of the market (end of 2007) - SFRSFRSFR is a French mobile phone company. It has over 20 million customers, and provides over 4.6 million households with high-speed internet access...
with 21.6% of the market (end of 2007). This compagny has acquired Neuf CegetelNeuf CegetelNeuf Cegetel is a French wireline telecom services provider and a mobile virtual network operator offering different services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking number two in the country...
and Tele2Tele2Tele2 AB is a major European telecommunications operator, with about 34 million customers in 11 countries. It serves as a fixed-line telephone operator, cable television provider, mobile phone operator and Internet service provider.- Overview :...
(Neuf Cegetel (Louis Dreyfus GroupLouis Dreyfus GroupLouis Dreyfus Group is a diversified French private company that is involved in agriculture and energy commodities...
) has previously merged his ADSL activities with Cegetel (Vivendi Universal), Club Internet (ex-Deutsche TelekomDeutsche TelekomDeutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
) and AOLAOLAOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
). - Alice (acquired by IliadIliad (company)Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founded by Xavier Niel in 1999....
, ex-Telecom ItaliaTelecom ItaliaTelecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...
which bought TiscaliTiscaliTiscali may refer to:*Tiscali, an archaeological village of Nuragici people, in Sardinia, Italy, notable because it was completely inside a huge cavern*Tiscali SpA, a telecom company based in Italy*Tiscali TV , multiple uses...
), for 6.1% of the market (end of 2007) - Bouygues TélécomBouygues Télécom (company)Bouygues Telecom is a French mobile phone and Internet service provider company, part of the Bouygues group. Its headquarters, designed by Arquitectonica, are located at the border of Paris and Issy-les-Moulineaux near the River Seine....
, a newcomer in the ADSL market (2008) - small operators, frequently virtual, 3.4% of the market (end of 2007).
The trend is a slow augmentation for the challengers at the expense of Orange SA.
ADSL Offers
The market is oriented towards stopping the price war, and offering more services at a price around 30€, slightly more for the incumbent operator:- maximum throughput permitted by the line, either 8 Mbit/s (maximum of ADSLAsymmetric Digital Subscriber LineAsymmetric digital subscriber line is a type of digital subscriber line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice...
), 24 Mbit/s (maximum of ADSL2+ITU G.992.5ITU G.992.5 is an ITU standard, also referred to as ADSL2+ or ADSL2Plus. Commercially it is notable for its maximum theoretical download speed of 24 Mbit/s.-Technical information:...
) or 28 Mbit/s (BroadcomBroadcomBroadcom Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company in the wireless and broadband communication business. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, USA. Broadcom was founded by a professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III from the University of California, Los...
non-standard ADSL2+ITU G.992.5ITU G.992.5 is an ITU standard, also referred to as ADSL2+ or ADSL2Plus. Commercially it is notable for its maximum theoretical download speed of 24 Mbit/s.-Technical information:...
deployed on Free network) depending on the line length and type of DSLAMDigital subscriber line access multiplexerA digital subscriber line access multiplexer is a network device, located in the telephone exchanges of the telecommunications operators. It connects multiple customer digital subscriber line interfaces to a high-speed digital communications channel using multiplexing techniques... - unlimited telephony to land lines in Europe, North America (even mobile phones), ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - television with the broadcasting of the young terrestrial digital TV and paid satellite TV
Those triple play
Triple play (telecommunications)
In telecommunications, triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of two bandwidth-intensive services, high-speed Internet access and television, and a less bandwidth-demanding service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple play focuses on a combined business...
offers were initiated by Free with the Freebox
Freebox
The Freebox is an ADSL modem that the French internet service provider named Free provides to its ADSL subscribers.Its main use is as a high-end wireless modem , but it also allows Free to offer added services using ADSL as support, like HD television , video recording with timeshifting...
modem, and are expanding to all major players, driving the French market.
As the market matures, it is beginning to open to smaller "boutique" broadband suppliers that specialize in meeting the needs of specific market segments. For example, Teleconnect France has introduced an AngloPack ADSL/VOIP service for the 250,000 English-speaking expats residing in France, featuring 20 MB/s connection speeds; free calls to the UK, USA and other anglophone countries; provision of a local UK number permitting a user's family and friends to call the user's VOIP line in France at the cost of a local call; and full customer service in English. Teleconnect is the only broadband service provider in France with an English help desk.
First prices between 15€ and 20€ per month remain for a small usage with limited throughput around one megabit per second (but often ADSL2 max in unbundled zones). Those prices can also be attained with complete unbundling, saving the monthly 15€ for the POTS
Plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
subscription while retaining the triple play services. Those offers of naked DSL are also available in non-unbundled areas, and can led to the economy of the traditional telephone subscription.
ADSL Technology
After selling the first ADSL2+ offers in Europe, providing a speed of 18 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up in 2004, French operators continue to offer new services, driven by the competition. It is possible to use video telephony, video on demandVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
, Reach Extended ADSL for 8 km lines soon. Experiments aren't any more the Iliad
Iliad (company)
Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founded by Xavier Niel in 1999....
/Free trademark: they recently demonstrated an aggregated 174 Mbit/s link, while Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...
innovates on the service with a free hotline and France Telecom is pushing VDSL.
In December 2005, Free enabled a TV multicasting service on the customer's local network, an open solution based on RTSP. This completes the media center capability of the freebox, also using the VideoLAN
VideoLAN
VideoLAN is a project that develops software for playing video and other media formats across a local area network . It originally developed two programs for media streaming, VideoLAN Client and VideoLAN Server , but most of the features of VLS have been incorporated into VLC, with the result...
project. They launched on April 2006 a new Freebox divided in two devices with DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
and HDTV capabilities and a Mimo WiFi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
network.
Quadruple play
Quadruple play
In telecommunications, quadruple play is a marketing term combining the triple play service of broadband Internet access, television and telephone with wireless service provisions...
, triple play with mobile communications, is available: Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel is a French wireline telecom services provider and a mobile virtual network operator offering different services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking number two in the country...
is selling for 200€ and 1€ with a plan Twin, a GSM/WiFi hybrid telephone after the experimental beautifulphone, by the means of a QTek 8300 and Wanadoo sells Unik, a Motorola, Nokia or Samsung handset for 100€. Free develops a wifi mesh network of HD freebox
Freebox
The Freebox is an ADSL modem that the French internet service provider named Free provides to its ADSL subscribers.Its main use is as a high-end wireless modem , but it also allows Free to offer added services using ADSL as support, like HD television , video recording with timeshifting...
es to be used to provide mobile telephony and compete with traditional cellular operators.
Anti-piracy law
In May 2009, a bill was approved by the French National AssemblyFrench National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
to prevent internet piracy. After downloading illegal files three times, a user's connection might be suspended.