Inflation creeps up to phone bills.

If the French market remains favorable to consumers, operators are increasing their offers at low prices.

In quick succession, Orange, Bouygues, SFR - via their respective entry-level brands Sosh, B&You and RED - or even Free have just increased the prices of their special offers without commitment by a few euros.

Examples noted by the online price comparator Ariase: RED of SFR spent its 60 GB mobile plan without commitment in February from 12 to 13 euros per month.

Ditto for B&You, whose 60 GB limited series rose from 11.99 to 12.99 euros per month.

Free's promotional offer has gone from 9.99 euros to 11.99 euros, while the Sosh (Orange) package at 9.99 euros per month for 50 GB now costs 14.99 euros per month but against 80 GB of data.

Back to the “fair price”

These increases confined to "aggressive" offers at low prices are part of a slow fundamental movement: according to Arcep, the French telecoms regulator, the average monthly bill of a mobile subscriber increased by 3.2% over a year to reach 16 euros in the last quarter of 2021.

“We are now heading towards a return to reason and towards a fair price”, says one at Orange, while the irruption of Free on the market in early 2012 had triggered a price war for mobile phones, cutting the margins of all players in the sector.

Better services

“In addition, the lull in promotional prices is also accompanied by an enrichment of offers: more data, SIM cards for connected objects, improved speeds”, adds the operator.

If “each operator has its own commercial strategy”, this upward trend “is only the beginning of an evolution towards the right price”, further supports Arthur Dreyfuss, the president of the French Federation of Telecoms (FFT), namely “the price paid by the consumer with regard to the services, quality, speeds and data offered to him”.

Heavy investments

“Excluding promotions, prices have been halved in France over the past eight years,” he recalls, adding that this beginning of a trend is also justified in view of the heavy investments in the deployment of 5G and fiber optics. .

With 8.3 billion euros of investment in fixed networks and 3.2 billion euros of investment in mobile networks, excluding frequency purchases, telecom operators have for example invested 11.5 billion euros in France in 2020 alone.

The French more advantaged than their neighbors

Especially since in comparison with the rest of Europe, France has the "lowest" subscription prices, says the French Telecoms Federation, based on a study co-conducted with the firm Arthur D. Little and published in December 2021.

On mobile, the most competitive 50 GB plan for French operators is 13 euros per month, or 34 euros less than in Germany and 50 euros less than in the 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 Cost

Operators are not immune either to the general rise in the cost of energy, transport and raw materials, in an international context disrupted by the war in Ukraine, argues the sector association.

But also to the increase in the manufacturing costs of some of their equipment, such as boxes and decoders, due to tensions in the semiconductor market.

However, subscribers to these low-cost offers can generally refuse the increase in their subscriptions and the associated options by default, provided that they indicate this to the operator beforehand.

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