51% of French homes to have triple-play by 2015
January 13, 2011
Fifty one per cent of all French households will subscribe to triple-play bundles in 2015, up from 36 per cent in 2010, according to a report from Pyramid Research.
The regulatory environment encourages competition, but a saturated market makes it a tough operating environment. “Convergence is the key competitive factor in France, and it is one of the most advanced convergence markets in the world,” says Sylwia Boguszewska, Analyst at Pyramid. “The bulk of convergence will continue to be in triple-play services, mostly bundles of voice, TV, and broadband,” she adds.
France leads the European telecom market in terms of the cheapest and most innovative triple-play bundles. “This is driven by intense competition, but also in part by a tax break (while broadband and phone services are charged at a 19.6 per cent rate, the other 50 per cent of the bundle is categorised by most telcos as TV services, and is thus charged at a lower 5.5 per cent rate),” states Boguszewska. “For instance, the recent Orange quad-play promotion includes: Internet (up to 20 Mbps), TV (up to 120 channels), voice (unlimited land line calls in France, one hour to mobile) and 3G+ mobile broadband for €34.99,” she indicates.
“Operators are also moving to quad-play services by adding mobile broadband or voice to their portfolios,” says Boguszewska. Pyramid expects quad-play adoption to be in 4.5 per cent of all households by 2015. “Fixed-mobile convergence will become an increasingly important competitive focus over the next couple of years as femtocell technology matures and become more affordable,” she says.