 | This articlecontainspromotional content. Please helpimprove it by removingpromotional language and inappropriateexternal links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from aneutral point of view.See ouradvice if the article is about you and read ourscam warning in case someone asks for money to edit this article.(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 26 April 1999; 26 years ago (1999-04-26) |
| Founder | Xavier Niel |
| Headquarters | , France |
Area served | France |
Key people |
|
| Products | Freebox,Freebox TV |
| Services | Fixed-line Internet services,IP television,fixed-line andmobile telephony,quadruple play,network services
|
Number of employees | 5665 |
| Parent | Iliad |
| Subsidiaries | Free Mobile Free Infrastructure |
| Website | www |
Free S.A.S. is a Frenchtelecommunications company andsubsidiary ofIliad S.A. that provides voice, video, data, andInternettelecommunications to consumers in France. Its head office is in the8th arrondissement ofParis and it is the second-largestInternet service provider in France.
Free provides ISP services in France[1][2] and in the 30OECD countries.[3] It was the first company to offer a "triple play" service inFrance[4][5][6] through its self-produced singularFreeboxset-top box, claiming to have invented thebox marketing concept in France in reference to all the other French ISPs who thereafter released "triple play"modems named to include theanglicismbox as a suffix. Theseboxes provide comprehensive telecommunication services such ashigh-speed Internet,telephone anddigital television packages, leading Free to become the world's number one IPTV provider[7] offering almost systematically IPTV to subscribers and optimizing it to be available on most landlines.[8][9]
Developing its own 3G and 4G networks, Free Mobile was launched in 2012 and became the fourth mobile network operator in France.
Free was the third ISP in France to offerInternet access without a subscription or a surcharged phone number, on 26 April 1999.[10] Unlike its predecessors in the niche ofaccess without subscription (World Online on 1999-04-01 andFreesurf [fr] on 1999-04-19), Free's offer was not restricted in time or number of subscribers.
In 2002, Free was the firstInternet service provider (ISP) to provide aV.92 connection.[11]
| Free dial-up offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | DownIP | UpIP |
| 1999-04-26[10] | Voiceband | 56 kbit/s | 33,6 kbit/s |
| 2002-02-27[11] | V.92 | 56 kbit/s | 48 kbit/s |
Since September 2002, Free contributed significantly to FrenchADSL boom. The offer was able to launch as soon as the incumbent was forced to stop abuse of dominant position and to apply fair wholesale prices.[12]
| Free bundled ADSL offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | DownATM | UpATM |
| 2002-09-19[4] | ADSL | 512 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2003-12-12[13] | ADSL | 1024 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2004-07-27[14] | ADSL | 2048 kbit/s | 128 kbit/s |
| 2005-02-09[15] | ADSL | 10 Mbit/s | 320 kbit/s |
| 2005-07-20[16] | ADSL | 10 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2008-03-20[17] | ADSL2+ | 22 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
Unbundling, in France, refers to the obligation for the incumbent carrierFrance Telecom to lease thelocal loop, because it is anatural monopoly. Although the unbundling process was intended to start by 2000, the actual unbundling process actually started at the end of 2002, after a long conflict between the French regulation authorityARCEP and the non-cooperative incumbent.[18]
Free has to pay a rental fee of €9 per month and per subscriber to the incumbent for thetwisted pair ofcopper between the areacentral office and thesubscriber premises.[19] Although more expensive than the real cost of €7.63,[20] this solution is still far more profitable than the bundled option.
Since January 2003, aFreenaut has maintained an unofficial website, showing figures and graphics about Free unbundled network deployment (Free Unbundling).[21] AnotherFreenaut website has provided network status monitoring maps Unbundling status and location[22] since the end of 2003. These initiatives are made possible thanks to the transparency of Free's network: their equipment replies toping and has a meaningfulreverse DNS.
| Free unbundled ADSL offer milestones | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technologies | DownATM | UpATM |
| 2003-11-27[6] | ADSL | 1024 kbit/s | 256 kbit/s |
| 2003-12-12[13] | ADSL | 2048 kbit/s | 256 kbit/s |
| 2004-06-04[23] | ADSL | 5 Mbit/s | 350 kbit/s |
| 2004-08-24[24] | ADSL | 6 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2004-10-20[25] | ADSL2+ | 15 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2005-01-06[26] | ADSL2+ | 20 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2005-11-08[27] | ADSL2+ | 24 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| 2006-07-26[28] | 28 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | |
| 2007-06-21[29] | 28 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | |
| Free FTTH deployment milestones | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Technology | DownIP | UpIP | Deployment |
| 2006-09-11[30] | Iliad P2P[31] | 50 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | OneNRO and some testers in Paris |
| 2007-08-31[32] | Iliad P2P[31] | 100 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | SomeNROs and few subscribers in Paris[31] |
| 2008-06-26[32] | Iliad P2P[31] | 100 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | Inauguration ofMontpellier FTTH network[33] |
| 2009-12-01[32] | Iliad P2P[31] | 100 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | Inauguration ofValenciennes FTTH network[34] |
On 11 November 2006, Free announced the deployment of a newfiber to the home (FTTH) network for its subscribers.[30] The initial plan's goal is to cover Paris as well as some towns in the Paris suburbs and selected neighborhoods in other French cities by 2012. By December 2007, the work was 30% finished, and the remaining work was progressing "at a furious pace".[9]
On 31 August 2007, Free updated the offer with more details. Download bandwidth shall be 100 Mbit/s and TV services shall be available for two televisions, at the same price of €29.99/month.[32]
Free has developed its own fiber network technology, calledIliad P2P, based onEthernet in the first mile and having apoint to point (P2P)topology.[31] High curvature optic fibers are manufactured by the Dutch companyDraka.[35][36]
Thedeployment is still essentially in the horizontal phase (the vertical phase being connection to the subscriber premises), and large-scale deployment to customers is foreseen.[37] On 26 June 2008,Maxime Lombardini [fr] and the mayor inaugurated Free's FTTH network in a district ofMontpellier.[33]
In March 2008,Iliad made the commitment to cover Paris at 75% by the second half of 2009, and reiterated its goal to connect 4 million French homes to its ownFTTH network by 2012.[38] Significant volumes of subscribers will be connected as soon as the legislative framework is in place,[39] expected byARCEP for autumn 2009.[40][41]
TheVoicebandDial-up internet access offer counts for a very small number of subscribers currently, as98% of French homes were eligible forADSL in 2006.[42]
Free began its activities with the famous free-of-charge Internet access, although dataphone calls fees are not included. Another offer combines an Internet access with 50 hours of dataphone calls for 14.94euros per month.
Initially,Freebox was the name of theFreebox device, which consists of theSet-top box andModem. Because of the device's popularity and reputation, it eventually became the name of the offer.
According to a study published byGoogle at theRIPE meeting in October 2008, Free is probably the largest nativeIPv6 ISP in theWorld.[45] By end 2008, almost all FrenchIPv6 traffic measured in the study comes from Free customers.[45]
Free deployed theIPv6infrastructure in only 5 weeks, from 7 November to 11 December 2007, thanks to an innovative6rd (IPv6 rapid deployment) proposal byRémi Després.[44]
In May 2009 Free reconfigured the set-top boxes to act as Wi-Fi hotspots by default. With over 3 million hotspots,[46] it is thought to be the largest Wi-Fi hotspot network in the world during that time. They require authentication which makes them only accessible to Free's ADSL and nowmobile customers. Their main use is thus to let customers away from home continue accessing the Internet using the ADSL connection of other Free customer within Wi-Fi range. For security reasons this access is isolated from the ADSL user's normal Wi-Fi network, and is given lower priority.
In 2003, Free introduced unlimited phone calls at no additional price,[5] forcing competitors to imitate these changes.[8][2]
In 2006, Free andFrance Telecom were in conflict against an unfair increase ofNeuf Cegetel owntermination tariff, aimed at undermining unlimited phone offers in France. The French regulatorARCEP then decided to apply a threshold for call termination.[47] Unlimited free phone calls have been perennial in France since then.
A wide range of telephone services are provided at no additional cost, such as an onlineanswering machine,ringback tone customization,call transfer,caller ID, inbound and outbound call filtering,conference calls, andWi-FivoiceSIP.[48]
Since April 2007, each customer has been assigned a fax number in addition to the traditional phone number. This additionalline is dedicated to theonline faxing service.[49]
In 2008, Light Reading ranked Free first in their list of top 10 largestIPTV carriers,[50][51] which was corroborated by TV Markets Quarterly Monitoring.[7]
Access rights of television channels are applied securely without requiring anysmartcard, thanks to the ARDP[52] protocol created by Free and submitted to the community through the IETF.
Since August 2008, the parent companyIliad (including Free and Alice brands) is the second-largest ISP in France. The leader isOrange (formerstate monopoly companyFrance Telecom), and the third isSFR.
In 2007 (a majorconsolidation year in the Frenchbroadband market), Free was the only ISP brand to gain market share.[53]
Free was the second-largest French ISP until end June 2007, when competitorNeuf CegetelacquiredClub Internet [fr] (T-Online France).[54]Neuf Cegetel used to grow essentially by purchasing its competitors, until it was itself absorbed bySFR. Until 2009, Free has always had a higherorganic growth thanNeuf Cegetel andSFR.[55]
Iliad regained its second place after buying "Alice Telecom" fromTelecom Italia in the summer of 2008.[56]
Until the purchase of Alice France,[56] Free's subscribers growth was exclusivelyorganic, except for the strategic acquisition of theCitéFibre [fr]FTTH ISP in 2006 (about 500 subscribers).[57]
| Free broadband subscribers and market share since 2002 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | FreeBroadband subscribers | ADSL subscribers in France | Broadband subscribers in France | |||||
| Bundled | Unbundled | Total[58] | Unbundling ratio | Total[59] | Free market share | Total[59] | Free market share | |
| 2002 | 95,000 | 3,000 | 98,000 | 3.1% | 1,361,377 | 7.2% | ||
| 2003 | 320,000 | 153,000 | 473,000 | 32.4% | 2,967,434 | 15.9% | ||
| 2004 | 500,000 | 549,000 | 1,049,000 | 52.4% | 6,072,723 | 17.2% | 6,529,997 | 16.0% |
| 2005[60] | 475,000 | 1,120,000 | 1,595,000 | 70.2% | 8,881,875 | 17,9% | 9,500,000 | 16,8% |
| 2006[60] | 548,000 | 1,730,000 | 2,278,000 | 75.9% | 12,019,000 | 19.0% | 12,700,000 | 17.9% |
| 2007[37] | 537,000 | 2,367,000 | 2,904,000 | 81.5% | 14,741,000 | 19.7% | 15,550,000 | 18.7% |
| 2008[61] | 901,132 | 3,323,868 | 4,225,000 | 78.7% | 16,804,000 | 25.1% | 17,819,000 | 23.7% |
| 2009[62] | 651,000 | 3,805,000 | 4,456,000 | 85.4% | 18,500,000 | 24.1% | 19,690,000 | 22.6% |
Free claims to be the firstprofitable ISP in France[4] and to have the lowestsubscriber acquisition cost amongst French operators.[60]
Theunbundling ratio is one of the key strategic figures:
Because of bandwidth cost,[19] only a subset of theTV services is offered to bundled subscribers; whileunbundled subscribers can access value-added services such asVOD and SubscriptionVOD. These services'revenues are constantly increasing.[39][63]
In 2007, Free had the greatestEBITDA margin of the sector in Europe, was the only actor to gain market share in France and had adebt ratio 10 times lower than the industry average. Thanks to these assets, the initialFTTH deployment (targeted at 2012) will be entirely self-financed by existing activities.[38]
Although investors are concerned about the investments in both the 3G mobile network and an FTTH network (1 billion euros each),[64] the perspectives of Free and of the whole sector in Europe are promising according to analysts.[65]
| Year | Slogan (translation) | Original French slogan |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Freedom does not have a price | La Liberté n'a pas de Prix |
| 2007 | Play on words: "It's all included" or, alternatively, "It's all well understood" | C'est tout compris |
| 2008 | Without doubt the best offer since a long time | Sans doute la meilleure offre depuis bien longtemps |
| 2009 | He has Free, he has all included (wordplay: all included/understood ) | Il a Free, il a tout compris |
| 2011 | Feel Free[66] | |
| 2012 | Thanks Free! | Merci Free ! |
On 3 January 2013 at 4pm in France, Free released a new firmware for its latest modem named "Revolution" which contained anadvertisement blocker. The firmware of the modems was updated when rebooting, and the Ad filtering was enabled by default. Within a few hours, Free gained media attention and was strongly criticized by website editors for penalizing them instead of Free's target Google. On 7 January at 8.30am, the Ad filtering was removed before Free ultimately decided, on 17 January at 6pm, to include the Ad filter and disable it by default. However, customers who restarted their modem between 3 and 7 January had enabled the option without even knowing it.
Since Free is one of the biggest ISP in France, worries started to raise of French hosting forums concerning the people's interest into Ad blockers in general.
