As always with Xavier Niel, decorum was carefully thought out and there were numerous barbs towards the competitors.
From Iliad's headquarters in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the billionaire presented his new internet box, the Freebox Ultra, this Tuesday morning.
After several days of
“teasing”
orchestrated on social networks, including by Xavier Niel himself, the announcement was expected.
According to Free, the product incorporates the best current connectivity standards on the market, with symmetrical upstream and downstream speeds of up to 8 gigabits/second, as well as the use of Wi-Fi 7, the latest market standard. .
“It’s the most powerful offer on the market
,” said Free’s general manager, Nicolas Thomas, during a video presentation.
Speeds will be higher, latency will be reduced, including in very dense areas, Free promises.
The Wi-Fi repeater, which extends home network coverage, will also be equipped with Wi-Fi 7.
More powerful, the box is also more economical.
Two modes - Eco-Wifi and total standby - allow in the first case to limit the use of the box according to uses while maintaining a high level of performance, and in the second to reduce the consumption of the product up to 95% when the user leaves home or does not need to use their box.
Free claims a minimum lifespan of 10 years for its product.
Canal+ in the bouquet
Beyond these technical characteristics, Xavier Niel's group also knew it was expected on the content offered in the subscription, set at 49.99 euros per month, and 59.99 euros per month after one year.
The previous box already offered a bouquet of video-on-demand services including Netflix, Prime Video, TV by Canal (bouquet of 50 free channels) as well as the
“in-house”
services of Free, OQEE by Free, Free Ligue 1 (summaries and goals from championship matches on video) and OQEE Ciné (catalog of 300 films).
Free went even further this Tuesday by announcing that Disney+, Universal+, and especially the encrypted channel Canal+ live will be added to this offer.
Questioned by
Le Figaro
, the group did not wish to comment on the financial conditions of this exclusive agreement or its duration.
This was nevertheless clearly concluded for several years.
Has Xavier Niel resolved the thorny issue of the fragmentation of video-on-demand platforms?
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney +...the subscription to each of these VOD services constitutes a heavy expense for consumers.
Cleverly, Xavier Niel did not hesitate during the presentation of the box to take out the calculator by putting together the cost of each of the subscriptions taken individually.
According to his calculations, the content alone represents an expense of 83 euros per month, to which must be added the price of the premium internet subscription, which he sets on average at 58 euros with the competition.
With its offer of 50 euros per month for the first year and 60 euros thereafter, without commitment, Free claims to offer an offer three times cheaper.
More information to follow...