Free does not want to cross “a valley of death” and pushes for a drop in the price of unbundling

At a time when Orange wants an increase in the price of copper to encourage it to switch to fiber, Free, Bouygues and SFR are campaigning for a drop. If Arcep will decide, its president openly supports the rivals of the historic operator. Discord.

Unsurprisingly, Free, SFR and Bouygues are opposed to the possibility of an increase in the unbundling price desired by Orange and have in turn sent their opinion to Arcep. According to them, an increase would allow the incumbent operator to keep its copper network longer and put more in their pockets, alternative operators would then be impacted with an ability to invest in the networks, lessened. All regret the lack of means on the side of the regulator to push Orange to dismantle its network in view of a total switch to fiber.

Aggressive, Free said that the transition phase from copper to fiber is perceived as crossing “a valley of death” and fears that it will be fatal to certain players at a time when investments in networks are colossal.

The operator of Xavier Niel thus advocates a drop in the price of unbundling in fiber areas to push Orange to turn off copper . “The copper will empty, Orange will keep the network open everywhere, because there is interest and does not undergo the same economic signals as the alternatives” warned Iliad.

Orange militates for an increase in the price of unbundling, the president of Arcep advocates the opposite

The dismantling announced by Orange of its copper network during the next decade, ie by 2030, therefore gives rise to fears among operators. To meet this major challenge, the incumbent operator plans to “force” the transition to fiber by raising the unbundling rates on copper, which are regulated by Arcep, to encourage subscribers to take the plunge. And that’s where it gets stuck.

In an interview recently granted to Les Echos, Sébastien Soriano, president of the telecoms regulator estimated … the reverse. The unbundling price will be “A steering instrument” did he say and hammer that “The more we lower the price of copper, the more we encourage its closure”.

Something to cringe Orange: “This reasoning surprises me. I don’t exactly understand the rationale for this approach ” said its CEO last Thursday, according to La Tribune.

Stéphane Richard does not budge, a drop in the price of unbundling, amounting today to 9.51 € per month and per line, would encourage operators to sell ADSL at the expense of fiber. Unlikely at a time when the latter are investing so much in fiber and are working hard to migrate their subscribers to FTTH.

Arcep says Orange could be encouraged “Not to switch copper / fiber as quickly as announced to continue to upgrade its copper network. This would have an additional cost which would be paid by the alternative operators and, ultimately, the consumer ”.

The telecoms police will therefore have to decide. For the time being, Orange plans to stop marketing new lines in around 3 years, then will gradually phase out copper by plate. The work has already started, but it is huge. At the same time, the incumbent operator, in its mission to delegate universal service, plans to optimize its copper network in France.

The amount paid by the operators on unbundling would be around 1.5 billion euros, subscriptions to a telephone line would bring as much to Orange. Sufficient to maintain a dilapidated network…

Source: La Tribune

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