Logo of the operator Free, owned by the Iliad group.

(Illustration) -

MASTAR / SIPA

The consumer association Familles Rurales announced on Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against the operator Free, accusing it of “unfair commercial practices”.

According to her, the company gives hope for "a performance gain that not all 5G frequencies are able to offer at present".

“The communication published by Free on December 15, 2020”, the date of the announcement of the launch of its 5G mobile network, “could be considered as constituting deceptive commercial practices”, explains the association in a press release.

His lawyer told AFP that she had filed the summons with the Paris court the previous week.

According to Rural Families, this communication "does not allow consumers to understand that all 5G are not equal, that each has its own specificities having an impact on speeds, latency or penetrability within buildings".

Different 5G qualities

Indeed, depending on their position on the electromagnetic spectrum, the bands do not have the same physical qualities.

The low bands "provide better area coverage and inside buildings, but speeds not comparable to those provided by high bands such as 3.5 GHz", explains the Telecoms Regulatory Authority (Arcep).

However, the subsidiary of Iliad, which claims the “largest 5G mobile network in France”, relies mainly on frequencies in the 700 MHz band, which do not offer the same speed promises as band 3. , 5 GHz, considered the “core band” of 5G.

8,600 5G sites in France

For Nadia Ziane, “Free cannot say that it will multiply the speed of the flow given the coverage for which it has opted”.

Rural Families also calls on the government to "take responsibility" by "regulating by decree" advertising on 5G.

"It is clear that the expected self-regulation will not have been there," said the association.

At the end of December, more than 8,600 5G sites had been opened commercially by operators, according to data published on January 14 by Arcep.

Free has the largest number of antennas providing the latest generation mobile service with 5,640 open 5G sites, against 1,500 for Bouygues Telecom, 742 by Orange and 793 by SFR.

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