The mobile operators market - France (2023)

1.1 INTRODUCTION

A mobile operator is a telecommunications company offering both mobile telephony but also of the mobile internet access services . The operator offers these services by providing a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into his mobile phone or tablet to access the network (GSM, CDMA, UMTS, WiMAX or LTE standards). The mobile operator must also market and market the product and assist its customers by internalizing or outsourcing processes.

There are two main types of mobile operators in France:

• The traditional mobile operators (MNOs) which have their own mobile network: Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free
• The virtual mobile operators (MVNOs) which use the network of traditional operators: more than forty mobile virtual network operators in France

The telephony sector is now almost exclusively mobile: the residential telephony segment has been in a slow decline for many years. The telephony sector is one of the most important sectors in the world key sectors of the French economy with a certain dynamism and a very high penetration rate within households. In 2015, nearly 57.5 million French people had a package and more than 70 million Sim cards were in circulation in France.

The sector is focused with very large players historically present in the sector such as Orange, Bouygues or SFR. The barriers to entry are consistent with the need for antennas that can be owned or not depending on the models and possibly purchases of communication minutes.... Thus, the new players are essentially the result of the strategic diversification of large conglomerates such as Virgin, for example.

The sector was completely disrupted by the arrival of Free Mobile that challenged the prices practiced in the market. These tariffs, formerly kept high, have literally collapsed. Similarly, there has been a paradigm shift from a high level of forced customer loyalty to a contract without commitment. The telephone sector is poorly regulated in France. This is a sector where volume must be created to be profitable, which is why we are witnessing a gradual concentration of the sector with major financial operations.