France - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses
Synopsis The French mobile phone market is one of the largest in Europe, worth about €13 billion annually. The network operators Orange, SFR Group, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile have invested in network infrastructure and technologies in recent years. LTE-A providing data at above 300Mb/s has extensive coverage, while Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR have undertaken 5G trials. The development of 5G has also been supported by the regulator which intends to auction spectrum for 5G use in early 2019 in anticipation of services coming into commercial use later in the year.
Competition among the MNOs and a large number of MVNOs has caused mobile services revenue to fall steadily. This pressure has encouraged operators to look to convergence and bundled services, and so expand their offerings beyond mobile voice and data.
This report provides key statistics and analyses on the French mobile voice and data market. It assesses recent developments related to spectrum licensing and regulatory issues, and profiles the major players and MVNOs, providing statistics on their operating and financial performance as well as their strategies in an increasingly fierce competitive market.
Key developments:
Regulator institutes revised spectrum coverage obligations;
Bouygues and SFR permitted to use 2.1GHz spectrum for LTE;
Orange partners with Ericsson and Nokia to develop a path to 5G, launches national LTE-M service;
Orange Group opens Orange Bank;
Regulator consults on revised guidelines for mobile network sharing;
Regulator progresses with 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum use for 5G;
MVNO market share increases to 11.1% of subscribers;
Virgin Mobile merges operations with SFR;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to June 2018, operator data to Q3 2018, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
Orange, SFR, Free Mobile, Bouygues Telecom, Virgin Mobile, Omea Telecom.
Table of Contents
Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile infrastructure
5G
4G (LTE)
Bouygues Telecom
SFR
Orange
Free Mobile
3G
GSM
Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
Mobile voice
Mobile data
Short Message Service (SMS)
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Mobile broadband
Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Regulatory issues
Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
GSM
3G Licensing – round one
700MHz
800MHz
2.6GHz
900MHz
1800MHz
2.3GHz shared spectrum
2.1GHz
3.5Hz
Spectrum reassignment – November 2018
Network sharing
Mobile termination rates (MTRs)
Roaming
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Major mobile operators
Orange
Altice France
Free Mobile
Bouygues Telecom
MVNOs
Mobile content and applications
Related reports
List of Tables
Table 1 – Mobile sector investment – 2007 – 2017 Table 2 – Investment in 3G and LTE infrastructure – 2013 – 2017 Table 3 – Mobile retail revenue – 1998 – 2018 Table 4 – Average monthly bill, ARPU - 2006 – 2017 Table 5 – Historic - Mobile subscribers (national, old format incl. M2M) and penetration rate – 1999 – 2014 Table 6 – Mobile subscribers (national) and penetration rate – 2011 – 2019 Table 7 – Mobile services traffic in minutes – 1998 – 2018 Table 8 – Mobile voice traffic in minutes by type (quarterly) – 2006 – 2018 Table 9 – Annual mobile voice traffic by type – 2008 – 2018 Table 10 – Mobile operator market share – 2005 – 2016 Table 11 – Prepaid and contract subscribers (old format national, incl. M2M) – 2005 – 2014 Table 12 – Prepaid and contract subscribers (national, excl. M2M) – 2011 – 2018 Table 13 – Proportion of prepaid versus contract subscribers – 1999 – 2018 Table 14 – Active LTE subscribers – 2014 – 2018 Table 15 – Free Mobile LTE subscribers – 2014 – 2018 Table 16 – Free Mobile average LTE data use – 2015 – 2018 Table 17 – 3G base stations in service by operator – November 2017 Table 18 – Active 3G subscribers – 2007 – 2018 Table 19 – 2G base stations in service by operator – November 2017 Table 20 – M2M cards in use – 2011 – 2018 Table 21 – Revenue from M2M cards – 2009 – 2018 Table 22 – Data market revenue by type (historic) – 2002 – 2012 Table 23 – Mobile data traffic (TB) – 2008 – 2018 Table 24 – Average mobile data traffic per 3G/LTE subscriber – 2011 – 2017 Table 25 – Mobile data traffic from LTE networks – 2016 – 2018 Table 26 – Average mobile data traffic per mobile subscriber – 2011 – 2017 Table 27 – SMS traffic volume (national) – 2004 – 2018 Table 28 – Annual SMS volume (national) – 2003 – 2018 Table 29 – Annual MMS volume – 2003 – 2018 Table 30 – Active mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2018 Table 31 – Dedicated mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2018 Table 32 – Forecast - mobile subscribers - 2019; 2021; 2023 Table 33 – 2.6GHz spectrum results – Sep 2011 Table 34 – Mobile termination charges – 2005 – 2013 Table 35 – Mobile interconnection revenue – 2003 – 2017 Table 36 – European roaming charges – 2007 – 2016 Table 37 – Mobile roaming out voice traffic – 2003 – 2018 Table 38 – European data roaming charges – 2014 – 2017 Table 39 – Annual mobile numbers ported – 2004 – 2018 Table 40 – Orange mobile subscribers (France) – 2005 – 2018 Table 41 – Orange blended, contract, prepaid ARPU (Q4) – 2005 – 2017 Table 42 – Orange blended, contract, prepaid ARPO (Q4) – 2017 – 2018 Table 43 – Orange mobile revenue by type – 2011 – 2017 Table 44 – Orange mobile-only revenue (new style) – 2016 – 2018 Table 45 – Orange mobile customer churn – 2003 – 2018 Table 46 – Orange mobile customer acquisition costs – 2007 – 2016 Table 47 – SFR mobile annualised ARPU – 2005 – 2018 Table 48 – SFR revenue (historic) – 2004 – 2013 Table 49 – SFR mobile revenue (under Altice) – 2015 – 2018 Table 50 – SFR subscribers – 2006 – 2018 Table 51 – Free Mobile mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2018 Table 52 – Free Mobile mobile revenue – 2012 – 2018 Table 53 – Bouygues Telecom subscribers – 2005 – 2018 Table 54 – Bouygues Telecom mobile ARPU – 2007 – 2018 Table 55 – Bouygues Telecom financial data by type – 2005 – 2018 Table 56 – MNO and MVNO subscribers (metropolitan) – 2005 – 2018 Table 57 – MVNO market share (metropolitan) – 2005 – 2018 List of Charts
Chart 1 – Average monthly bill and ARPU - 2006 – 2017 Chart 2 – Mobile subscribers (national) and penetration rate – 2011 – 2019 Chart 3 – Mobile operator market share – 2005 – 2016 Chart 4 – Orange mobile subscribers (France) – 2005 – 2018 Chart 5 – Orange blended, contract, prepaid ARPU – 2005 – 2017 Chart 6 – Orange mobile customer acquisition costs – 2007 – 2016 Chart 7 – SFR subscribers – 2006 – 2018 Chart 8 – MNO, MVNO subscribers (metropolitan) – 2005 – 2018 List of Exhibits
Exhibit 1 – 3G licensees Exhibit 2 – Reassigned multi-spectrum holdings (900MHz) – 2021 – 2025 Exhibit 3 – Operating MVNOs and network provider
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