To compensate for the heavy investments made to deploy 5G, whose gains are still limited commercially, Orange, SFR, Bouygues or Free could increase the price of their packages.

In its latest annual study, Arcep, the telecoms policeman, had awarded Orange the prize for the most reliable network ahead of its competitors SFR, Bouygues and Free. Arcep also carried out a series of tests on the deployment of 5G. Here again, Orange is in front but the novelty launched with great fanfare about a year and a half ago has not had the expected effect on the market... nor on the profits of operators. Revenues have not budged and telecom operators are tempted to increase the price of fixed and mobile plans to deal with it and catch up with their massive investments of more than 11 billion euros, in 2020 alone, according to Le Monde. .

Above all, the average price of a plan in France is much lower than the rates observed in Germany, the United States or Great Britain due to the aggressive competition introduced by Free when it arrived on the market.

Not before 2030 for 5G

"The French must pay the right price for an exceptional service offered to them," says Arthur Dreyfuss, president of the French Federation of Telecoms (FFT) and general secretary of SFR in the columns of the daily. Is it normal for a monthly telecom subscription to cost the same as a pizza, while at the same time prices are rising across the entire value chain? »

"Operators are struggling to increase the average basket of their customers and prices have remained stable", confirms Jean-Michel Salvador, financial analyst at AlphaValue au Monde. To avoid a sudden increase in packages and strengthen the competitiveness of operators, the FFT is asking, for example, for a reform of taxation, which is considered excessive. In particular the “pylon tax” while operators are building them to deploy 5G.

According to the CLCV, it will be necessary to wait until 2030 for optimal national coverage of 5G, knowing that territories are still deprived of 4G. As for packages and telephones, prices remain high for a service that is still very limited.

How much does a mobile plan cost in France?

The average monthly cost of an unlimited voice/SMS mobile plan with at least 10 GB of data is 18.68 euros on the 1st October 2021 according to the Ariase barometer. Nevertheless, this average bill is up over six months since it amounted to 17.45 euros for an equivalent package last February. Low-cost offers from Orange (Sosh), SFR (Red by SFR) and Bouygues (B&You) are driving prices down with average packages around 13 euros per month. Free is at 15.41 euros on average when the classic Orange and SFR packages both exceed 27 euros per month on average.