Telephone: more mobile than fixed phones in France

The mobile telephony has passed a mark. The figures published in the end of last week by the ART (Autorité de regulation des télécoms; telecom regulation authority) reveal that, for the first time, the number of subscribers to a mobile telephony service (34.6 million on September 30th 2001) has exceeded the number of subscribers to a fixed telephony service. The mobile equipment rate of the French population is thus up to 57.6%. Three months later, it was 55.1%, on June 30th 2001. This shows that, in spite of the crisis, the mobile telephony keeps on gaining market shares.As far as operators are concerned, Orange (France Télécom) keeps on being at the head with 674.000 new subscribers during the last quarter and near half of the number of subscribers (48%). SFR ranks second with 34% of market shares in France (+526.000 subscribers during the last quarter), followed by Bouygues Télécom (18% of the market and 277.000 new subscribers during the last quarter).