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Free (ISP)
Free is a French ISP, which is a subsidiary of Iliad. It operates in France. It was the first company to offer a Triple play service in France [1][2][3], through its self-produced singular Freebox set-top box. It claims to be the first company to have invented the box marketing concept in France [4], in reference to all the other french ISP which thereafter released Triple play modems named to include the anglicism box as a suffix. These boxes provide comprehensive telecommunication services such as high-speed internet, telephone and digital television packages. Free is recognized as the broadband innovations driver in France [5][6].
HistoryVoicebandFree was the third ISP in France to offer access to the Internet without subscription nor surcharged phone number in February 1999 [7]. Its predecessors in the niche of access without subscription were World Online on 1999-04-01, then Freesurf on 1999-04-19. In 2002, Free was the first ISP to provide a V.92 connection [8].
Bundled ADSL
Unbundled ADSLUnbundling, in France, refers to the obligation for the incumbent carrier France Télécom to lease the Local loop, because it is a natural monopoly. Although the unbundling process was intended to start by year 2000, the actual unbundling process really started at the end of 2002, after a long conflict between the French regulation authority ARCEP and not cooperating incumbent [14]. Free has to pay around 9,50 euros per month and per subscriber to the incumbent for the Twisted pair of Copper between the Point of presence and the subscriber premises. Although being more expensive than the real cost, this solution is still far more profitable than the bundled option. Since January 2003, a Freenaut maintains an unofficial website giving estimations about Free unbundled network deployment (Dégroupage Free).
Fiber to the home
Free announced on 2006-09-11, the launch of the deployment of a new FTTH network for its subscribers[22]. The initial plan targets by 2012 the coverage of Paris as well as some towns in Paris suburbs and elected neighborhoods in french provincial cities. In December 2007, the work was done at 30% and the remaining was progressing "at a furious pace" [6]. On 2007-08-31, Free details and updates the offer. The download bandwidth will be 100 Mbit/s and TV services will be available on two Televisions (still for ? 29.99 / month) [24]. Free has developed its own fiber network technology, called Iliad P2P, based on Ethernet in the First Mile and having a point to point (P2P) topology [23]. High curvature optic fibers are manufactured by the Dutch company Draka [26][27]. The deployment is still essentially in the horizontal phase (vertical phase is the connection to the subscriber premises) and large scale deployment to customers is foreseen [28]. On 26 June 2008, Maxime Lombardini and the mayor inaugurated Free's FTTH network achieved in a district of Montpellier [25]. On March 2008, Iliad made the commitment to cover Paris at 75% by second semester 2009 and reiterated its goal to connect 4 million French homes to its own FTTH network by 2012 [29]. Significant volumes of subscribers will be connected as soon as the legislative framework is in place [30]. Since November 2008, a Freenaut maintains an unofficial website giving estimations about Free FTTH network deployment (Suivi non officiel du déploiement de la fibre optique free). OffersFree of charge services
RTC Internet accessThe Voiceband Internet access offer counts nowadays an insignificant number of subscribers as 98% of French homes were eligible to ADSL in 2006[32].
Freebox offerInitially, Freebox was the name of the Freebox device which consists of the Set-top box and Modem. Because of the popularity and reputation of the device, it eventually became the name of the offer.
Internet accessAccording to a study published by Google at the RIPE meeting in October 2008, Free is probably the most important native IPv6 ISP in the World [34]. By end 2008, almost all French IPv6 traffic measured in the study comes from Free customers [34]. Free has deployed the IPv6 infrastructure in only 5 weeks from November 7th to December 11th 2007 thanks to the innovative 6rd (IPv6 rapid deployment) proposal by Rémi Després [35]. TelephoneUnlimited telephone calls
In 2003, Free introduced unlimited phone calls at no additional price, while other phone operators or ISPs charged fees for each minute of telephone call. Competitors have then been forced to imitate these evolutions but always with fewer destinations included or with an additional price. Up to march 2005 [37], free of charge telephone calls were limited to unbundled subscribers. Calls to United States and Canada mobiles are free of charge since december 2005 [38]. In 2006, Free and France Télécom were in conflict against unfair increase of Neuf Cegetel own termination tariffs, aimed at undermining unlimited phone offers in France. French regulator ARCEP then decided to apply a threshold for call termination [42]. Unlimited free phone calls are perennial in France since then. Telephone servicesTelephone services includes a wide range of free of charge services, from Answering machine to Ringback tone customization. TelevisionAccording to a study published in 2008 by Light Reading [43], Free is by far the biggest IPTV carrier in the World [44]. This fact is also confirmed by the TV Markets Quarterly Monitoring [45]. Other servicesCorporate affairsMarket shareFree is the second ISP in France. The leader is Orange (former state monopoly company France Télécom) and the third one is Neuf Cegetel. Free was the second ISP up to end June 2007, when competitor Neuf Cegetel acquired Club Internet (T-Online France) [46]. However Free regained it's second place after purchasing "Alice Telecom" from Telecom Italia in the summer of 2008 [47]. Free has always had an higher organic growth than Neuf Cegetel. In 2007 (a major consolidation year in the French broadband market) Free was the only ISP brand to gain market share [48]. Up to the purchase of Alice France [47], Free's subscribers growth was exclusively organic, except the strategic acquisition of the Citéfibre FTTH ISP in 2006 (about 500 subscribers) [31].
ProfitabilityFree claims to be the first profitable ISP in France [1] and to have the lowest subscriber acquisition cost amongst French operators[51]. The unbundling ratio is one of the key strategic figures:
Because of bandwidth cost, only a subset of the TV services is offered to bundled subscribers; while unbundled subscribers can access value-added services such as VOD and Subscription VOD. Revenues of those services are constantly increasing [52] [30]. In 2007, Free had the greatest EBITDA margin of the sector in Europe; was the only actor to gain market share in France and had a debt ratio 10 times lower than the industry average. Thanks to these assets, the initial FTTH deployment (targeted at 2012) will be entirely self-financed by existing activities [29]. CriticismCultureCompanyCommunitySee alsoReferencesFurther readingExternal linksIn English
In French
Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article 
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