IT landscape
in France
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Telecommunication infrastructure
Whereas France is relatively advanced in terms of mobile phones and
digital TV equipment, the low rate of household equipement in PCs and in
Internet access is preoccupying for the future development of IT.
Equipment rates and market shares
The penetration rate for fixed phone lines is 98% of French households
and is stagnant. 4% have at least two fixed lines. New operators for long
distance and international communications have increased their market share:
16 % of households have subscribed to a competitor of France Telecom in
2000, they were 9 % in 1999. The reason invoked for subscribing to new
operator is price competitiveness.
Penetration rate of new operators
| Market shares |
1999 |
2000 |
| 7 Cegetel |
5.1 % |
6.9 % |
| 4 Tele2 |
2 % |
7.8 % |
| 9 Telecom |
0.8 % |
2.1 % |
Source: Taylor Nelson / Sofres, November 2000
The penetration rate of cell phones was 34.3 % in 1999 and 49.4 % in 2000,
12 % of households have more than one cell phone.
|
1999
|
|
2000
|
|
|
Subscribers
|
Market share
|
Subscribers
|
Market share
|
Itineris
(France Telecom) |
10 051 000 |
48.7 % |
14 310 800 |
48.2 % |
| SFR |
7 334 800 |
35.6 % |
10 159 800 |
34.2 % |
| Bouygues Telecom |
3 233 200 |
15.7 % |
5 210 700 |
17.6 % |
| Total |
20 619 000 |
100 % |
29 681 300 |
100 % |
Source: Taylor Nelson / Sofres, November 2000
With half of the population now having cell phones, the market is reaching
a saturation point and some manufacturers are shutting down plants. The
problem is further complicated by the fact that the French did not massively
buy into Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) services. At the same time, markets
may adjust to new technologies like WAP, when more sophisticated versions,
such as the UTMS, come to market in the near future.
The penetration rate for digital TV was 13% in March 2001, making France
the second biggest market after the UK. In the future, mobile phones
and digital TV will represent a relevant alternative for Internet access.
At the end of 2001, 503 000 French people declared using a PDA, that is
1 % of the population. PDA users are more likely to be men, young, living
in large cities and having a high income. More than 4 PDA users out of
5 have also connected to the Internet in the last month.
Source: Journal du Net
Infrastructure and New services
France hosts several cable operators that provide TV services.
NOOS is the number one cable operator in France to provide Internet
access, television and telephone services to over two million homes. They
are leading the field in interactive digital TV as well as high-speed Internet
connectivity in France and are working towards an integrated multimedia
network throughout France. NOSS uses Juniper networks routers in their
core backbone that are connected together using Gigabit Ethernet and OC-12/STM-4
(622 Mbps) interfaces.
France is participating in several satellite networks that provide coverage
of the territory. The first historic network is Inmarsat, which is offering
individual phone communications. It does not have global coverage but it
can transmit voice, fax and data.
The latest network is Globalstar and it should offer global coverage
by 2001 through 48 LEOs satellites.
Mobile phone system operated by Eutelsat-Emsat is a pan-European satellite
system that provide voice communication, fax , data and short messages.
France, through the company Alcatel, is also investing in the Skybridge
system that will provide a global network. Skybridge uses 64 LEOs and should
offer two-way broadband communications (60 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream).
Regarding the high speed delivery on the local loop, competition is developing
in large cities, with services providing speed from 2 to 155 Mbbps. Technologies
employed are mainly xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or ATM (Asynchronous
Transfer Mode).
Telecom operators have defined high speed access at 500 kbits, which
is currently performed by cable and television. High speed is more usually
defined at 2 Mbits, which would be allowed by satellite access or by radio
local loop. However, the current architecture of the French network is
very concentrated in and out of Paris and would necessitate investements
in remote area to provide access to everyone. Optical fiber networks are
already linking together the largest cities but the connection to the users
need to be developed.
Even if supply is provided for high speed Internet connection, demand
will not necessarily follow up. Currently, 1 household out of 16 can access
the high speed network, compared to 1 out of 9 in the US and 1 on
2 in Korea. The demand will probably come from the companies that want
to benefit from productivity gains enabled by new technologies. France
is far behind in high speed connections, with an expected number of subscribers
of 500 000 at the end of 2002, whereas Germany already has 2 millions.
The cost is still high in France and access providers have difficulties
accessing the local networks. France Telecom controls more than 90% of
ADSL traffic but the situation might change with the opening to competition
of the local loop.
It is believed that current prices for ADSL (300 FF a month) are preventing
access to a mass market. It is the equivalent of 200 FF per month in Germany
for example.
UTMS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) is the technology adopted
for international normalization of third generation mobile telecommunications,
which should replace progressively in 2002 the current standard GSM. UTMS
allows faster Internet access from mobile phones, provides higher quality,
international compatibility and should resolve the current congestion in
large cities. UTMS will be hosted on new frequencies on the spectrum (1920-1980
MHz and 2110-2170 MHz).
Telecom industry
Telecom industry is an important part of French manufacturing industry
and exportations. The telecom sector represents 2/3 of French exports in
manufacturing goods, and exports have grown 28.8 % on average between 1994
and 1999. French telecom industry is also gaining global market share and
represented 6% of global market in 1998, after the US, Japan, UK, Sweden
and Germany. In 2000, 74 % of exports and 55 % of imports were made with
other EU countries. Imports were made principally with the US. Mobiles
represented the first export segment, followed by transmission material
(modems, multiplexing, etc.)
This strong growth has slightly decreased in the first semester of
year 2001, due to the slowing US growth and the saturation of cell phones
market. Moreover, the largest operators are strongly indebted after having
heavily invested in third-generation mobiles (UMTS).
Source: SESSI
Who are the domestic telecom players?
-
Alcatel is a major player
in the area of telecommunications and the Internet. Alcatel has a strong
local presence in 130 countries, 110,000 employees worldwide and made sales
of EURO 31 billion in 2000, of which 85% are from telecommunications. Alcatel
is a leader in ADSL equipment, terrestrial and submarine optical networks,
public switching, fixed wireless access, and intelligent networks. It is
now selling its activity in cable industry and electronic parts. It has
reduced the number of plants it operates, standardized its production and
is outsourcing its mobile phones manufacturing.
-
France
Telecom Since the deregulation of the telecommunication industry
in 1998, France Telecom has lost its monopolistic position but remains
the leader on the French market. Through its subsidiaries, Wanadoo for
Internet and Orange for mobile communications, its strategy is to expand
in potentially growing sectors and to develop internationally. Telecommunication
traffic routed by France Telecom has increased 15% in 2000, due to price
promotions and increase in fixed and mobile devices. In spite of strong
competition, France Telecom is still the market leader in France with 67%
market share in long distance, 48 % in mobile and 40 % in Internet access.
However France Telecom is heavily in debt and the deregulation of the local
loop will increase pressure on the Company.
-
Cegetel was created in
1997 by Vivendi Universal as one of the first private operator in France.
Cegetel provides Internet and telecom services to businesses and individuals.
It operates mobile phones ntework through SFR and fixed telephony through
Cegetel.
Cegetel had 15 millions clients in October 2000.
Sources
Telecom.gouv.fr
Journal du Net
FranceSatellite.com
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