For years, the debate has stirred the sector.
For Xavier Niel, the boss of Free, the sale of smartphones at apparently attractive prices but coupled with more expensive mobile plans for twelve or even twenty-four months is a disguised consumer credit and encourages the renewal of terminals.
A crusade that he has been leading since 2012 by denouncing an “opaque” system.
According to the Senate, these renewals represent 81% of the digital environmental bill in France.
To be clear, the government after the citizens' convention on the environment had commissioned a study in March from the digital policeman, Arcep.
According to Les Échos, after four less work and 26 interviews, the telecoms regulator is cautious, but affirmative.
"The nature of the contract (with or without subsidy) seems to have a limited link with the duration of ownership of smartphones", writes the regulator.
Between 29 and 32 months of use
According to Arcep, today, 63% of French people with a smartphone have a model that is less than two years old.
A figure is however a little higher (69%) if we look at the age of subsidized smartphones, explains Arcep.
But, nothing very demonstrative.
In addition, the newest smartphones (less than a year old) are purchased as much (33%) via subsidies as the rest of the distribution.
In addition, subsidized devices are used on average “only” twenty-nine months.
But here too, the difference with all the terminals (thirty-two months) is not very significant.
But above all, according to Arcep, the weight of subsidization has continued to decline over the years.
From now on, the plans with subsidized telephones represent only 21% of the total of the plans, against 83% in 2012 when Free arrived on the mobile.
Free claims more than 1.5 billion euros from Orange and Bouygues Telecom
This study comes as Free launched a new offer last week separating the phone from the package. Called "Free Flex", the offer offers to acquire a new or reconditioned smartphone by spreading its price over 24 months, at no additional cost and without commitment, thanks to a rental system with option to purchase. At any time, the subscriber can become the owner with the promise not to pay for his mobile "more expensive than its true price", the mobile telephone plans remaining at the same price and distinct from the monthly payments paid for the rental of the smartphone. For Xavier Niel, “the interest is both for the consumer by giving him the freedom to no longer be engaged. It is also a choice for the environment because we do not encourage consumers to renew their terminal too quickly.
If Xavier Niel affirmed that Free deliberately wished not to make mobile subsidy when it was launched, the operator however filed a complaint against the three other operators who have this practice. "We have proceedings against several operators in France for these subsidizing practices," confirmed the boss of Free. According to L'Express, the operator is claiming 790 million euros from Orange and 722 million euros from Bouygues Telecom, a total of more than 1.5 billion euros in compensation claims.