SFR-Numericable lays out terms for open network

French service provider SFR-Numericable has this week published terms for opening its cable network up to rival operators, a condition for regulatory agreement to Numericable’s acquisition of mobile operator SFR.

However the company’s offers have already attracted criticism for being too expensive.

Numericable has published two reference offers – a white label offering which allows MVNOs without their own fixed line consumer premises equipment to access its network via the Numericable box, and a bitstream offering, allowing rival operators with existing fixed broadband services to access Numericable’s network using their own boxes.

The two reference offers have been put to the competition watchdog which will consult on them with interested parties.
In addition to significant upfront fees, including a €50,000 technical study fee, €5 million to make the service available and €250,000 a year in maintenance fees, the white label offering will cost €12 per month per line for 30Mbps to 100Mbps and €16 for higher than 200Mbps. Numericable will also charge €10 per month for each Mbps consumed by the end user.

The bitstream offering will involve similar upfront costs along with a charge of €13 per line per month for the lower speeds and €17 for the higher speeds, along with €9 per month for each Mbps used by consumers and various other costs.

French MVNOs have so far failed to express enthusiasm for the offering, according to local reports. Jérôme Birba, CEO of CIC Mobile, was quoted by financial daily Les Echos as saying that the condition wouldn’t permit it to offer sufficiently attractive quad-play offerings.