Many new features are yet to arrive at Xavier Niel’s operator, both on mobile and on Freeboxes… What are you waiting for most in the coming months? It’s your turn to speak.
Free launched its Freebox Pop at the beginning of the summer, but as of this fall, the operator must tackle several projects. We are therefore offering you a survey to find out what you expect most from Free.
Change to come on mobile
On mobile in particular, where the operator has several projects in his boxes. First of all, one of the most important is the launch of 5G offers at Free Mobile. Free’s dad defends the need for it in France in an interview for Univers Freebox, explaining that “We need 5G […] we are always consuming more speed and for this additional consumption, we need spectrum to move forward, to deploy ”. While waiting for the allocation of frequencies which will take place at the end of September, the operator does not want to say too much, but it could mark the occasion by standing out from the competition. The marketing of the first offers by the end of the year, if all goes well.
Another project announced by Xavier Niel, the launch of VOLTE, considered as the Arlésienne of Free, which should be done in same time as 5G, technology being necessary for this new generation of mobile telephony. It was initially planned after the launch of 4G roaming abroad in May 2019, and Freenautes are waiting for it firmly.
Other short term announcement, l’eSIM will soon land at Free Mobile. Indeed, the operator who was not a fan of it, revised its position on the subject and its founder announced, on the sidelines of the launch of the Freebox Pop, that the arrival of this technology was a matter of “a few weeks”. . To be continued.
Finally on mobile, there is still a promise, dating from 2018, of a new mobile revolution. Xavier Niel announced Free’s ambition to launch a second mobile revolution after that of 2012, at all levels, as much on offers, as on distribution and subsidization. But since radio silence. Asked about this by Univers Freebox on the sidelines of the launch of the Freebox Pop, Xavier Niel prefers not to indulge in a new pre-announcement. “For the end of the year we are working on things”, he confided to Univers Freebox.
Expectations regarding the Freebox
On the fixed side, a promise that takes time to arrive. In fact, since the launch of the Freebox Delta, subscribers are promised that the Free-Devialet player will be compatible with le Dolby Atmos. Aware of the consequent delay, Xavier Niel did his mea culpa last July. “We have a component on which we must have firmware that must always be delivered to us soon and we are always promised that it will be delivered tomorrow”, explained the founder of Free before risking a new date, “We think it should happen on September 1st”. The date is approaching, it remains to be seen whether Free will be able to stick to it.
Another novelty under discussion, the launch of Disney+ last April caused some disappointment among some Freebox subscribers. Indeed, due to the agreement signed between the SVOD platform and Canal +, the only Freeboxes offering access to the entire catalog and services are those running on Android TV: the Freebox Pop and the Freebox mini 4K. The others only have access to a video loop lasting a few hours in the Canal universe. However, we know that discussions are underway between the operators and Canal + for a direct distribution on the boxes. Is the arrival of the new SVOD service from the big-eared firm on all Freeboxes part of your expectations?
But another project is being prepared for the operator, on a larger scale. Indeed, Free plans to launch soon on the corporate market, thanks in particular to the acquisition of Jaguar network in 2019. Thomas Reynaud confirmed, at the start of the year, the launch of Iliad’s B2B offers soon. The objective by 2024 is to achieve 4 to 5% of pda in this segment but also 400 to 500 million euros in turnover. But we should not hope for an increase as sharp as on the general public market in 2012: “Our market share gains will be slower than when Free Mobile arrived, because companies are unfortunately locked into very long-term contracts” said the CEO of Iliad.
You now have the floor. What novelty are you most expecting from Free in the coming months? Take our survey below.
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