France is looking at galvanising every private and public sector stakeholder, to deploy a growing number of pilot projects nationwide, to achieve its goals and be at the vanguard of 5G.
The government, working closely with Arcep, is looking to support innovations as making 5G a success is strategically vital to ensure the French industry remains an industry of innovation on the global stage.
This article introduces the French Operators strategies.
Orange is looking for traction through 5G innovation
Orange is currently a fully integrated network and service provider with Mobile Finance Services as a key pillar of diversification.
The company’s is seeking to work with businesses to develop future uses of 5G in France.
It’s core strategy towards 5G includes co-innovation with companies and those common to other telcos such as Deutsche Telekom (autonomous vehicle with Renault; fast download service with SNCF) and building the industry of the future (such as the Lacroix Group prototype factory and Schneider Electric 5G factory test).
To date, Orange has spearheaded 5G developments alongside Ericsson, Nokia and ZTE. Ericsson is also supporting Orange’s 5G efforts in other European markets.
Trial 5G licences were issued to the company in Lille and Douai with Ericsson as partner last year, and in Marseille with Nokia as partner.
The B2B Market shall drive Bouygues growth….
The B2B market is a growth driver for Bouygues Telecom and it’s strategy is to strengthen Bouygues Telecom Entreprises’ position in both mobile and fixed networks.
Bouygues is currently taking over KEYYO, targeting SME and mid-sized businesses in France.
It’s strategy is based on three priorities:
* Become a leader in the connectivity and networks market with enhanced service offerings directly or through partnership with well-known companies.
* Accelerate its expansion into the market of micro-businesses, SMEs and intermediate-sized businesses.
* Strengthen its positioning among large companies.
Bouygues is utilising 5G as part of a wider strategy focussed on the B2B market and to be involved in the smart ecosystem (Smart Mobility, Smart City, Smart Building et le Smart Entertainment) and has already launched its own incubator (SmartX_5G).
Bouygues Telecom holds 5G trial licenses in Bordeaux, Lyon and Villeurbanne, with Ericsson and Huawei as vendor partners.
… And Iliad too, with his own infrastructure
The Group is investing in rolling out his own 5G infrastructure combined with an “upscaling” sales policy that is focused on encouraging subscribers to sign up for ultra-fast mobile. This should fuel the operator growth on the 5G markets.
Its strategy is based on four pillars:
* Strengthen reinforcing its position as the leading alternative FTT operator throughout the country
* Become the leading alternative operator for ultra-fast 4G and 5G mobile
* Create a new national-scale operator and give businesses the benefits of its innovation capacity and value for money
* Become a leading convergent player
Iliad, though its subsidiary Free, is also focussing its effort on developing solutions for SMEs along with its historical effort to deliver services to the B2C market.
Altice : Will the 5G serve the convergence strategy ?
The company’s focus is on investment in infrastructure (fibre) and content.
Its strategy includes looking at the convergence of fixed and mobile services, as well as the convergence of telecoms, media, content and advertising.
Its three areas of focus are:
* Customer Experience: Best quality services and exclusive content
* Invest in proprietary infrastructure: Owner of The Leading Fixed Infrastructure in France, Portugal and Israel
* Leverage unique content assets such as pay-TV models and growing advertising revenue
Altice France launched 5G in Paris in October 2018 and several tests are scheduled in different cities in 2019 to deliver the best of this technology.
SFR and Nokia
In May 2018 SFR and Nokia made a 5G call using 5G New Radio (NR) technoloy in the 3.5GHz band.
With equipment provided by Huawei, SFR also achieved data rates of 1.6Gb/s during trials using a 5
With equipment provided by Huawei, SFR also achieved data rates of 1.6Gb/s during trials using a 5G antenna system including 64 transmitters and 64 receivers.