Free Mobile () is a French

wireless service provider A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...

, part of the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

group. It was the fourth mobile network operator to obtain a

metropolitan French French of France () is the predominant variety of the French language in France, Andorra and Monaco, in its formal and informal registers. It has, for a long time, been associated with Standard French. It is now seen as a variety of French alon ...

3G license in 2009. It also obtained a 4G license in 2011. Free Mobile provides wireless services to 14.042 million subscribers as of September 2022.

History

3G license (900 MHz and 2100 MHz)

The first 3G licenses were awarded to

France Telecom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

(now Orange) in 2000,

SFR SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...

in 2000 and

Bouygues Telecom Bouygues Telecom () is a French mobile phone, Internet service provider and IPTV company, part of the Bouygues group. It is the third oldest mobile network operator in France, after Orange and SFR, and before Free Mobile. Its headquarters, de ...

in 2002. Free Mobile application has been agreed by French regulatory authority ARCEP on 17 December 2009. The license price is 240 million euros for two 5 MHz duplex bands in the 900 MHz and 2100 MHz frequency bands.

Roaming agreement

Free Mobile signed a 2G and 3G roaming agreement with

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

on 3 March 2011. It was initially set to run until 31 December 2020. It was extended for 2 more years, up to 31 December 2022, on 28 October 2020. 100% of the 2G traffic will go through Orange's network as Free Mobile has no 2G license.

Network deployment

Free Mobile has for legal obligation to cover 27% of the French population by January 2012, 75% by January 2015 and 90% by January 2018. Free Mobile was already covering 30% of the French population in November 2011. A 3G

roaming Roaming is a wireless telecommunication term typically used with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. It refers to a mobile phone being used outside the range of its native network and connecting to another available cell network. Technical ...

agreement with Orange enables communications channeled through Orange's network, which covers about 98% of the French metropolitan population according to ARCEP. Free Mobile was covering 37.3% of the French population in July 2012. Xavier Niel announced its network was covering 50% in January 2013. ARCEP confirmed that Free Mobile covered 78% of the population in January 2015. An estimated 18,000 antennas, depending on the frequencies, are required to cover the whole French metropolitan area. Free Mobile operates roughly 21,600 3G antennas, 21,300 4G antennas and 13,500 5G antennas as of January 2022. Number of 3G, 4G and 5G antennas in service (Source ANFR): 3G: 4G: 5G:

Service launch

ARCEP confirmed that Free covers enough of the country to open commercially and start using its roaming agreement with Orange. For the few first years Free will pay Orange to get a full national coverage, for the roaming license agreement as it arrived late to the mobile market. Free Mobile launched its two offers on 10 January 2012. Both offers are without commitment and without subsidized phones.

4G license (2600 MHz)

Free Mobile obtained a 4G license on 22 September 2011 for 271 million euros for a duplex 20 MHz band in the 2600 MHz frequency band. It failed to obtain further bands in the 800 MHz frequency band.

4G launch

Xavier Niel announced on his Twitter account the availability of the 4G on 3 December 2013. 4G was added, at no additional cost, to the current commercial packages.

Additional 4G frequency bands (1800 MHz)

Free Mobile has been granted 15 MHz duplex bands in the 1800 MHz frequency band to balance with the licenses offered for free in this band to the other operators back in early 2000s. 5 MHz have been available between January and June 2015 and the remaining 10 MHz will be on 25 May 2016.

Additional 4G frequency bands (700 MHz)

The auction for the 700 MHz frequency band started on 16 November 2015. Initial bidding price was set at 416 million euros per 5 MHz duplex band. Six bands were for sale. The auction ended on 17 November 2015. Free mobile bought two bands (10Mhz duplex) at 466 million euros (932 million euros).

3G data roaming throttling

Free Mobile announced covering 85% of the population in 3G as of 1 July 2016. 3G data roaming throttling will be applied on Orange network:

French overseas departments

Free Mobile was awarded frequencies in several

French overseas departments and territories Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decoloni ...

on 13 October 2016. Including

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loc ...

, Saint-Barthelemy and Saint-Martin.

Additional frequency bands (900 MHz and 2100 MHz)

Free Mobile benefited from a redistribution of the frequency bands among the 4 French mobile operators, following an agreement with the government on 23 October 2018 for providing coverage in the "white spots": * Free Mobile will have 7.6 MHz in the 900 MHz range on 25 March 2021 then 8.7 MHz on 9 December 2024 (from the initial 5 MHz acquired in 2009). * Free Mobile will have 14.8 MHz in the 2100 MHz range on 21 August 2021 (from the initial 5 MHz acquired in 2009).

5G license (3.4-3.8 GHz)

Free Mobile obtained a 5G license on 1 October 2020 for 70 MHz in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range for 602 million euros.

5G launch

Free Mobile started its 5G service on 15 December 2020. Free Mobile announced it in a humorous tweet with Xavier Niel.

Customers

Free Mobile launched its two offers on 10 January 2012. The number of customers rose quickly in Q1 2012 and again in Q4 2012, after Free Mobile upgraded its €2.00 offer (from one hour/60 SMS to two hours/unlimited SMS) on 6 December 2012. Number of customers (Source Iliad): Free Mobile reached 5,205,000 customers, an 8% market share, in its first year (compared to 27.0 million mobile customers for Orange, 20.7 million for SFR and 11.3 million for Bouygues Télécom).Abonnés Free mobile: 5,2 millions de clients un an après le lancement
/ref> Free Mobile currently holds a 19% market share. Its long-term goal is a 25% market share.

Frequency bands

Free Mobile uses the following frequency bands as of 2021: * *

References

{{French mobile phone companies Telecommunications companies of France Mobile phone companies of France