Inflation creeps up on phone bills. If the French market remains favorable to consumers, operators will increase their offers at low prices. back to back, Orange† Bouygues† SFR – through their respective entry-level brands Sosh, B&You and RED – or even Free have just increased the prices of their non-binding offers by a few euros.
Examples noted by the online price comparison site Ariase: RED from SFR spent its mobile subscription in February without obligation 60 GB from 12 to 13 euros per month. Ditto for B&You, whose 60 GB limited series increased from 11.99 to 12.99 euros per month. The Free promotional offer has gone from 9.99 euros to 11.99 euros, while the Sosh (Orange) package of 9.99 euros per month for 50 GB now costs 14.99 euros per month, but at 80 GB dates.
Back to the “fair price”
These increases limited to “aggressive” low-price offers are part of a slow fundamental move: according to Arcepthe French regulator of telecomthe average monthly bill of a mobile subscriber increased by 3.2% over one year to 16 euros in the last quarter of 2021.
“We are now on our way to a return to reason and to a fair price,” said someone at Orange, as Free’s collapse in the market in early 2012 had sparked a price war for mobile phones, squeezing the margins of all players in the market. sector.
Better services
“In addition, the fall in promotional prices is also accompanied by an enrichment of the offer: more data, SIM cards for connected objects, higher speeds,” the operator adds.
If “each operator has its own commercial strategy”, this upward trend is “just the beginning of an evolution towards the right price”, supports Arthur Dreyfuss, the president of the French Telecom Federation (FFT), namely “the price paid by the consumer with regard to the services offered to him, quality, speeds and data”.
Heavy investments
“Excluding promotions, prices in France have halved in the last eight years,” he recalls, adding that this beginning of a trend is also justified given the heavy investment in the deployment of 5G and the optical fiber†
For example, with €8.3 billion in fixed network investment and €3.2 billion in mobile network investment, excluding frequency purchases, telecom operators invested €11.5 billion in France in 2020 alone.
The French more favored than their neighbours
Especially since France has the “lowest” subscription prices compared to the rest of Europe, says the French Telecom Federation, based on a study conducted in collaboration with the firm Arthur D. Little and published in December 2021.
On mobile, the most competitive 50 GB package from French operators is 13 euros per month, or 34 euros less than in Germany and 50 euros less than at UNITED STATES† The most competitive triple play offer (telephone, internet, television) from French operators costs 22 euros per month, compared to 35 euros in the United Kingdom, 45 euros in Germany and 108 euros in the United States.
Energy and semiconductor costs
Operators are also not immune to the general rise in the costs of energy, transport and raw materials, in an international context disrupted by the war in Ukrainesays the trade association.
But also the increase in the manufacturing costs of some of their equipment, such as boxes and decoders, due to stresses on the semiconductors† However, subscribers to these advantageous offers can generally refuse the increase of their subscriptions and the associated options by default, provided they indicate this in advance to the operator.
