By akademiotoelektronik, 31/03/2023

Free advocates more aggressive 5G packages to convince the French

A year after its launch, 5G is struggling to make sparks and while operators are rather confident about its long-term adoption, Free believes that more attractive packages could speed things up.

The adoption of 5G by the general public is happening at its own pace. While the month of December, very conducive to the renewal of smartphones through end-of-year holiday gifts, has just begun, operators are counting in part on this dynamic to sell their offers embedding the new generation of mobile telephony.

5G offers account for only a quarter of new subscriptions signed this year on average among operators, who choose to play for the long term. Laëtitia Orsini-Sharps, marketing director of consumer offers at Orange explains that the incumbent operator is ahead of sales of compatible smartphones, and that the adoption of offers is consistent with its forecasts. For its part, Bouygues Telecom announces that “5G today represents 2.5% of mobile traffic, it is twice as important as for 4G one year after its launch in 2012”. This summer, for example, Orange was counting on majority use by the end of 2023.

Camille Perrin, director of marketing and advertising communications at the parent company of Free also tempers: “A new technology does not impose itself in a few months, 4G has taken several years to seduce consumers, there are brakes to raise such as coverage, equipment or package“. The operators are thus all showing patience, even if the situation has however been unblocked since last year. In particular thanks to the increasingly significant coverage of the territory in 5G, where Free largely dominates by already covering 72% of the population but where its three competitors are also deploying fairly quickly, in particular on the “queen” 3.5GHz band. Similarly, concerns about the impact of 5G on health were swept away by the ANSES report, while many opponents brandished this argument during the launch of the new network.

To convince the French, competitive offers will be needed

Despite the removal of these obstacles, particularly on the hardware side, since fairly affordable 5G smartphones are no longer as rare as last year, a study by the price and mobile plan comparator Edcom.fr announces that 64% of the 11,000 French respondents were not yet interested in 5G this summer. Optimistic, Orange affirms that now that the health debates “are behind us, this will help make 2022 a year of changeover with a use which will mechanically take off“. Same story at SFR, whose marketing director affirms that “the 'explosion in the use of Ultra HD streaming and the massive need of consumers will soon boost the market'.

At Free, however, the problem behind the slow adoption of the new technology is also the price of the offers. The operator, having chosen to integrate 5G at no additional cost into its flagship package at €19.99/month (€15.99 for Freebox subscribers and €9.99 for Pop subscribers), believes that “current packages are not still quite aggressive and do not relate to digital offers because operators need to sell more expensive subscriptions“. On average, a 5G plan costs between €30 and €35 ​​per month, despite tempting limited offers launched by the low-cost brands of SFR and Bouygues Telecom. The arrival of 5G in Sosh's offers could play a role in this revitalization of the market.

If the rhythm remains appreciated by operators playing on the long term, equipment manufacturers are also quite calm. The manufacturer Ericsson, for example, plans nearly 4.4 billion 5G subscriptions by 2027 worldwide. For the partner manufacturer in particular of Orange in the deployment of 5G in France, 5G should concern 83% of subscriptions in six years in Europe, against 6% currently.

Source: Le Parisien