Internet in France - ADSL Offers

ADSL Offers

The market is oriented towards stopping the price war, and offering more services at a price around 30€, slightly more for the incumbent operator:

• maximum throughput permitted by the line, either 8 Mbit/s (maximum of ADSL), 24 Mbit/s (maximum of ADSL2+) or 28 Mbit/s (Broadcom non-standard ADSL2+ deployed on Free network) depending on the line length and type of DSLAM
• unlimited telephony to land lines in Europe, North America (even mobile phones), China and India
• television with the broadcasting of the young terrestrial digital TV and paid satellite TV

Those triple play offers were initiated by Free with the Freebox modem, and are expanding to all major players, driving the French market.

As the market matures, it is beginning to open to smaller "boutique" broadband suppliers that specialize in meeting the needs of specific market segments. For example, Teleconnect France has introduced an AngloPack ADSL/VOIP service for the 250,000 English-speaking expats residing in France, featuring 20 MB/s connection speeds; free calls to the UK, USA and other anglophone countries; provision of a local UK number permitting a user's family and friends to call the user's VOIP line in France at the cost of a local call; and full customer service in English. Teleconnect is the only broadband service provider in France with an English help desk.

First prices between 15€ and 20€ per month remain for a small usage with limited throughput around one megabit per second (but often ADSL2 max in unbundled zones). Those prices can also be attained with complete unbundling, saving the monthly 15€ for the POTS subscription while retaining the triple play services. Those offers of naked DSL are also available in non-unbundled areas, and can led to the economy of the traditional telephone subscription.