Millions Quit France Telecom for VOIP services in France

Millions of French are switching to the Internet for their telephone services (VoIP), with the use of television over the Internet also seeing a huge rise. Last year, the number of people using VoIP rose by 102%, to 6.6 million users, whilst the number of subscribers using a fixed line for their telephone calls declined by 4.7%. Nevertheless, the number of fixed line subscribers rose by 4.9% to 38 million, a rise driven almost entirely by the increase in those seeking VoIP. The rise in fixed line subscriptions masked the 2.2 million existing France Telecom customers who switched totally to a secondary telephone provider, up from 600,000 in 2005. In the face of this competition, France Telecom have had to finally face reality and reduce a number of their prices. It remains to be seen if these recent changes stem the haemorrhaging of telephone line customers. The use of the Internet to receive television services also rose massively last year, doubling the number of users to 2.6 million. France now counts 15 million Internet subscribers, of whom 83% are broadband connected. However, there continues to be a great deal of dissatisfaction with the service provided by Internet service providers, with complaints to AFUTT, the telecoms user group, increasing by 51% during 2006. The worst performing operator was Alice, closely followed by Free and Club Internet. Orange, the Internet arm of France Telecom, was the best performing operator, but also the most expensive. AFUTT criticise the complexity of the offers being made between the different providers, and accuse them of a price war that has been at the expense of ensuring a satisfactory service to customers. The Internet providers have also fallen foul of government trading standards officers, with most complaints about the unfair nature of the contracts customers are required to sign, and a poor after sales service. Chief culprits have been Alice, Numéricable-Noos, Free and Neuf Cegetel.