Orange, Free and Bouygues will pay more for SFR fiber in certain areas, operators are grumbling

After having pestered the tariffs applied by Orange for a long time, SFR decides to increase the wholesale price of its fiber billed to operators in medium-density areas. Enough to make his rivals cringe.

The cloth burns between the operator in the red square and his direct competitors. Altice’s subsidiary has made the decision to revise upward the wholesale prices charged to other operators to connect to its own FTTH network in the AMII zone, in exactly 641 municipalities, or 2.5 million premises.

The rise would be substantial and irritating to say the least, according to a market player, reports Les Echos. For example, if Free wishes to obtain a 5% portion of housing in an area affected and fiberized by SFR, it will now have to pay € 5.90 per line and per month, an increase of 9%. For its part, Orange is asking for € 5.48. Even worse when it comes to line rentals. Already more expensive than the incumbent operator and its € 13.20 billed, SFR would have applied a 2% increase to its tariff, which climbs to € 16.73.

Enough to cringe Orange, Free and Bouygues, including judging these prices delusional at a time when wholesale prices are rather down. As the deployment of fiber is more and more consequent, the costs decrease.

According to the daily, the Arcep is rather reassembled and follows the case, the operator would be in his viewfinder. In its defense, SFR believes that the revision of its wholesale rates is only “a few cents”. And to add that this increase allows him to “Take into account higher maintenance costs, notably due to damage”. Still, the pill is very difficult to swallow for operators who could seize the regulator to arbitrate this dispute.