Free (ISP)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Free | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | SAS |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Xavier Niel |
| Headquarters |  Paris, France |
| Area served | France |
| Key people | Xavier Niel, Maxime Lombardini, Rani Assaf, Antoine Levavasseur, Thomas Reynaud |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | ISP |
| Services | Quadruple play
|
| Revenue | 1,212 million EUR (2007) ▲ +29.7% [1] |
| Net income | 150.2 million EUR (2007) ▲ +24.4% [1] |
| Owner | Iliad |
| Employees | 2275 (2007) [2] |
| Website | www.free.fr |
Free is a French ISP, which is a subsidiary of Iliad. It operates in France.
It was the first company to offer a Triple play service in France [3] [4] [5], through its self-produced singular Freebox set-top box. It claims to be the first company to have invented the box marketing concept in France [6], in reference to all the other french ISP which thereafter released Triple play modems named to include the English word box. These boxes provide comprehensive telecommunication services such as high-speed internet, telephone and digital television packages. In 2007 - a consolidation year in the French broadband market - Free was the only ISP brand to gain market share [7].
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Voiceband
- See also: Dial-up internet access
Free was the third ISP in France to offer access to the Internet without subscription nor surcharged phone number in February 1999 [8]. Its predecessors in the niche of access without subscription were World Online on 1999-04-01, then Freesurf on 1999-04-19. In 2002, Free was the first ISP to provide a V.92 connection [9].
| Free dial-up offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | Down IP | Up IP |
| 1999-02-27 [8] | Voiceband | 33.6 kbit/s | 33,6 kbit/s |
| 2002-02-27 [9] | V.92 | 56 kbit/s | 33,6 kbit/s |
[edit] Bundled ADSL
| Free bundled ADSL offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | Down ATM | Up ATM |
| 2002-09-19 [3] | ADSL | 512 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2003-12-12 [10] | ADSL | 1024 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2004-07-27 [11] | ADSL | 2048 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2005-02-09 [12] | ADSL | 10 Mbit/s | 320 kbit/s |
| 2005-07-20 [13] | ADSL | 10 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2008-03-20 [14] | ADSL2+ | 22 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
[edit] Unbundled ADSL
| Free unbundled ADSL offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technologies | Down ATM | Up ATM |
| 2003-11-27[5] | ADSL | 1024 kbit/s | 256 kbit/s |
| 2003-12-12[10] | ADSL | 2048 kbit/s | 256 kbit/s |
| 2004-06-04[15] | ADSL | 5 Mbit/s | 350 kbit/s |
| 2004-08-24[16] | ADSL | 6 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2004-10-20[17] | ADSL2+ | 15 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2005-01-06[18] | ADSL2+ | 20 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2005-11-08[19] | ADSL2+ | 24 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2006-07-26[20] | 28 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | |
| 2007-06-21[21] | 28 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | |
[edit] Fiber to the home
| Free FTTH deployment milestones | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | Down IP | Up IP | Deployment |
| 2006-09-11 [22] | Iliad P2P [23] | 50 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | some testers |
| 2007-08-31 [24] | Iliad P2P [23] | 100 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | few dozen [23] |
Free announced on 2006-09-11, the launch of the deployment of a new FTTH network for its subscribers[22]. The initial plan targets by 2012 the coverage of Paris as well as some towns in Paris suburbs and elected neighborhoods in french provincial cities. In December 2007, the work was done at 30% and the remaining was progressing "at a furious pace" [25].
On 2007-08-31, Free details and updates the offer. The download bandwidth will be 100 Mbit/s and TV services will be available on two Televisions (still for € 29.99 / month) [24].
Free has developed its own fiber technology, called Iliad P2P, based on Ethernet in the First Mile and having a point to point (P2P) topology [23].
The deployment is still essentially in the horizontal phase (vertical phase is the connection to the subscriber premises) and large scale deployment to customers is foreseen [26].
On March 2008, Iliad made the commitment to cover Paris at 75% by second semester 2009 and reiterated its goal to connect 4 million French homes to its own FTTH network by 2012 [27]. Significant volumes of subscribers will be connected as soon as the legislative framework is in place [1].
[edit] Offers
[edit] Free of charge services
- Voiceband Dial-up internet access (data phone calls not included)
- Unlimited Email addresses (100 MB each)
- 10 GB personal pages[28] (PHP, MySQL/PostgreSQL, web tools such as WordPress)
- Big files exchange (up to 10 GB) at a limited speed and with limited features
[edit] RTC Internet access
The Voiceband Internet access offer counts nowadays an insignificant number of subscribers as 98% of French homes were eligible to ADSL in 2006[29].
- Price: 14.94 euros
- Voiceband Dial-up internet access with 50 hours of data phone calls included
[edit] Freebox offer
Freebox was initially the name of the Set-top box and Modem: the Freebox device. It became afterwards also the name of the offer because of the popularity and reputation of the device.
- Price: 29.99 euros
- Best broadband connectivity available for the subscriber home: FTTH, unbundled or bundled
- Triple play (broadband bundled connection) or Quadruple play (broadband unbundled or FTTH connection) services
- Free of charge migration to a better connectivity when available to subscriber
- Possibility to update the Freebox device; the upgrade price decreases with time and is free of charge after 3 years of subscription
- Big files exchange (up to 10 GB) at full speed and with all features (on-line movie player, etc...)
- A /60 IPv6 prefix
[edit] Internet access
[edit] Telephone
[edit] Television
[edit] Other services
[edit] Corporate affairs
[edit] Market share
- See also: Internet in France
Free is the third ISP in France. The leader is Orange (former state monopoly company France Télécom) and the second one is Neuf Cegetel. Free was the second ISP up to end June 2007, when competitor Neuf Cegetel acquired Club Internet (T-Online France) 600,000 subscribers[30]. Neuf Cegetel has always had a lower organic growth than Free.
Free's subscribers growth is essentially organic, except the strategic acquisition of the Citéfibre FTTH ISP in 2006 (about 500 subscribers) [28].
| Free broadband subscribers and market share since 2002 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Free Broadband subscribers | ADSL subscribers in France | Broadband subscribers in France | |||||
| Bundled | Unbundled | Total [31] | Unbundling ratio | Total [32] | Free market share | Total [32] | Free market share | |
| 2002 | 95,000 | 3,000 | 98,000 | 3.1% | 1,361,377 | 7.2% | ||
| 2003 | 320,000 | 153,000 | 473,000 | 32.4% | 2,967,434 | 15.9% | ||
| 2004 | 500,000 | 549,000 | 1,049,000 | 52.4% | 6,072,723 | 17.2% | 6,529,997 | 16.0% |
| 2005 [33] | 475,000 | 1,120,000 | 1,595,000 | 70.2% | 8,881,875 | 17,9% | 9,500,000 | 16,8% |
| 2006 [33] | 548,000 | 1,730,000 | 2,278,000 | 75.9% | 12,019,000 | 19.0% | 12,700,000 | 17.9% |
| 2007 [26] | 537,000 | 2,367,000 | 2,904,000 | 81.5% | 14,741,000 | 19.7% | 15,550,000 | 18.7% |
- Free has the lowest churn rate amongst french Broadband providers, below 1% per month [34] [7].
- Iliad targets 4 million Broadband (ADSL and FTTH) subscribers by 2010 and an unbundling ratio of 85% [34].
[edit] Profitability
Free claims to be the first profitable ISP in France [3] and to have the lowest subscriber acquisition cost amongst French operators[33].
The unbundling ratio is one of the key strategic figures:
- Free has QoS control on unbundled lines since these are connected to Free own DSLAMs instead of France Télécom DSLAMs;
- bundled lines generates expensive bandwidth fees paid to France Télécom;
- TV multicast is not provided by France Télécom DSLAMs.
Because of bandwidth cost, only a subset of the TV services is offered to bundled subscribers; while unbundled subscribers can access value-added services such as VOD and Subscription VOD. Revenues of those services are constantly increasing [34] [1].
In 2007, Free had the greatest EBITDA margin of the sector in Europe; was the only actor to gain market share in France and had a debt ratio 10 times lower than the industry average. Thanks to these assets, the initial FTTH deployment (targeted at 2012) will be entirely self-financed by existing activities [27].
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Culture
[edit] Company
[edit] Community
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c d Iliad (2008-03-12). "2007 Results: Press Release" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Iliad (2008-03-12). "2007 Results: Management Report and Analysis" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b c Iliad (2002-09-19). "Free launches unlimited broadband Internet at dial-up prices" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Iliad (2003-07-31). "Free introduces free telephone calls" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b Iliad (2003-11-27). "Free launches digital television" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Iliad (2006-04-19). "New HD Freebox Released" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b Iliad (2008-03-12). "2007 Results: Slide Show" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b Internet gratuit : Free, un indépendant sur le marché de la fourniture d'accès (French) (1999-04-27). Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
- ^ a b Iliad (2002-02-27). "Free, accès en V92" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ a b Iliad (2003-12-12). "Free, disponible partout en France" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2004-07-27). "Free, 2 Mbit/s minimum sur toute la France" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2005-02-09). "Free, jusqu'à 10 Mbit/s pour les non dégroupés" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2005-07-20). "Free, jusqu'à 1 Mbit/s en upload pour les non dégroupés" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Iliad (2008-03-20). "Free offers up to 22 Mbps for the same price (29.99 euros a month) in non-unbundled areas" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
- ^ Iliad (2004-06-04). "Free, jusqu'à 5 Mbit/s" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2004-08-24). "Free, jusqu'à 6 Mbit/s" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2004-10-20). "Free, jusqu'à 15 Mbit/s grace à l'ADSL2+" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2005-01-06). "Free, jusqu'à 20 Mbit/s" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2005-11-08). "Free, jusqu'à 24 Mbit/s" (PDF) (in French). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2006-07-26). "Free is increasing its Internet bandwidth for unbundled Freebox subscribers, offering speeds up to 28 Mbit/s" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Iliad (2007-06-21). "Freebox: New Broadband Software is Optimizing the Quality of Triple Play Services" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ a b Iliad (2006-09-11). "As of the 1st half 2007, Free will market a very high speed optical fibre service for €29.99/month" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b c d Pourquoi Free peine à déployer son réseau de fibre optique (French) (2007-10-31). Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b Iliad (2007-08-31). "Free’s FTTH Offer: Internet Access at a Speed of 100 Mbp/s, Telephony and TV Services Available on 2 Televisions for € 29.99 / month" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Xavier Niel, France’s Broadband Maverick (English) (2007-12-21). Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b Iliad (2008-02-11). "2007 Revenues" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b Interview Thomas Reynaud (French) (2008-03-14). Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b Iliad (2006-06-21). "Capacity of personal pages hosted by Free now 10 GB" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ ARCEP letter 52 (PDF) (French). ARCEP. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Neuf Cegetel (2007-07-02). "Neuf Cegetel Mass Market broadband customers top the 3 million mark" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ Iliad annual reports (English). Iliad.
- ^ a b High-speed Internet Observatory (English). ARCEP.
- ^ a b c Iliad (2007-02-07). "2006 Revenues" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ a b c Iliad (2007-10-29). "3Q 2007 Revenues" (PDF) (in English). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
