Free (ISP) - History - 2004-2006: Unbundled ADSL and "triple Play"

2004-2006: Unbundled ADSL and "triple Play"

Unbundling, in France, refers to the obligation for the incumbent carrier France Telecom to lease the Local loop, because it is a natural monopoly. Although the unbundling process was intended to start by 2000, the actual unbundling process actually started at the end of 2002, after a long conflict between the French regulation authority ARCEP and the non-cooperative incumbent.

Free has to pay a rental fee of 9€ per month and per subscriber to the incumbent for the Twisted pair of Copper between the area central office and the subscriber premises. Although more expensive than the real cost of 7.63€, this solution is still far more profitable than the bundled option.

Since January 2003, a Freenaut has maintained an unofficial website showing figures and graphics about Free unbundled network deployment (Free Unbundling (French)). Another Freenaut website has provided network status monitoring maps (Unbundling status and location (French)) since the end of 2003. These initiatives are made possible thanks to the transparency of Free's network: their equipment replies to ping and has a meaningful reverse DNS.