Articles (French Language / Langue Française)
Bouygues Telecom casse les prix avec une Box Triple Play à moins de 20€ | DegroupNews
MWC 2014: Wiko veut devenir le roi des smartphones low cost | ZDNet.fr
From the horse’s mouth
Bouygues Télécom
My Comments
The price barrier for triple-play Internet to hit 20 euros here!
Things are becoming increasingly competitive over at France now with Bouygues Télécom offering a baseline triple-play Internet service for just on 20 euros per month.
Here, this service, known as BBox, offers for this price, ADSL Internet with a 20Gb “data elbow” hosted storage facility, a fixed telephone line with unlimited calls to fixed lines in France and 121 other areas and a multichannel IPTV service with 165 channels, catch-up TV and a 40Gb DVR setup. There is even the ability to drop €6 extra for the BBox Sensation which has 50Gb of extra hosted storage, video-on-demand, online gaming, a multi-screen setup and a 300Gb DVR facility.
This is like the way Free worked where they offered to the French market the Internet and online services that people wanted at really low prices. Some people could describe that this kind of competition and the low prices are unsustainable even though that there is the situation where there is a likelihood of increased revenue due to many of the services being sold in volume. As well it has been described that the telecommunications companies are working on very slim margins to satisfy the price war, providing Internet at a price that everyone can afford without question.
Even Martin Bougyes who runs this telecommunications company has underscored the idea that Internet access is a necessity, not a luxury (FR: « Internet n’est pas un produit de luxe, c’est un produit nécessaire » ). This is similar to how I have described broadband Internet as being “hot and cold running Internet” where it is effectively like a utility like water or electricity.
Of course, there is a missing question about whether this service requires a multiple-month contract or can be engaged “by the month” and whether the price plans would be considered suitable for people who maintain those “bolt-holes” in France.
In some ways, who knows who’s watching the broadband and “multiple-play” Internet scene in France from the UK to see how they can bring the same level of competitiveness to that market?
