With 2.2 million customers earned in just two months, has already exceeded Free Mobile Virgin Mobile and its 1.9 million customers won in six years. But Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, CEO of Virgin Mobile, do not admit defeat. After declining prices for its mobile plans starting January 11, he resigned from all his mandates (UNEDIC Medef …) to devote himself entirely to Virgin Mobile. He decided to strike back against the field of Free by launching its "Virgin box" ADSL and the first quadruple play (Internet, television, landline and mobile) market in less than 30 euros, including a mobile subscription (2 hour voice and sms). In Mobile, Virgin Mobile is launching a mini-package to 4.99 euros per month (for 45 minutes of calls and 450 SMS) and packages from EUR 12.99.
LE FIGARO-Virgin Mobile Will he survive the arrival of Free Mobile?
Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux-course! We intend to play the return match and the win. Niel has no monopoly on consumer protection. Virgin Mobile launches quadruple play offer (TV, Internet, landline and mobile), which is the cheapest on the market. We are less than 30 euros, while the average bill is more than 40 euros. If prices fell in mobile, fixed Internet on the bill for households is increasing. When we give moral lessons to everyone, we must be consistent in all markets! The credo of French Internet the cheapest in Europe, created by Xavier Niel, and conveyed by ARCEP, has become false. The fixed market in France is now oligopolistic. This allows Free to have margins of 39% and fund its mobile offering.
Are you facing a haemorrhage of customers?
Free Mobile to launch, it's true, we experienced a spike in departures. But that was quickly calmed. By the third week, that number fell, and fell further after the failure of Free March 20. Free Mobile is like Ryanair: you pay less, but you take off from Beauvais. Everybody does not want it. If we have lost customers, we also won. In the end, we lost 24,000 net customers, slightly more than 1% of our customer base. Neither more nor less than other operators.
Have you pumped up the numbers in March through promotions on private-sale?
No. We have fewer and fewer cancellations and more of recruitments, with our range Extaz, which has enrolled more than 100,000 customers in less than three months.
Virtual mobile operators (MVNO) are not they eventually threatened?
Virgin Mobile is no longer an MVNO like any other, it is a "full" MVNO. This means that we are not content to buy more minutes of telecoms but we have invested tens of millions of euros to build a network of heart. So we have the benefits of a network operator without its drawbacks: we touch the money when customers of other operators call our customers. We control our prices and have a real free trade. But unlike Free we are not forced to deploy expensive antennas.
Did you anticipate such an impact?
The day after the launch of Free we have aligned our prices. A quick response indicating that we were ready. I even took my team to Lorient in naval commandos prepare the response plan. A tariff to 19.99 euros was part of the scenarios, although this was not the one we preferred.
What will the impact on your margins?
Our sales increased 21% to 567 million, and EBITDA to exceed 30 million euros for the year ended March. From January to March 2012, activity was still up 13% despite the arrival of Free Mobile. The year 2012-2013 will be more complicated. We will focus on growth and invest in the quadruple play. The downside of this strategy is that our margins will be penalized. But we will remain profitable.
Why not be sold Virgin Mobile before the arrival of Free?
Virgin Mobile is not for sale. This is a scarce asset, growing. If we had had to sell, we would have done in 2011 as Vodafone, which has shrewdly sold his shares in SFR.
Tackle the offer that Free is committed to MVNOs?
We are not litigious. But the wholesale offer Free is inoperative. Given the difficulties of Free network, its limited coverage, pricing, no one's interest to be at Free MVNO. ARCEP has to ensure that the commitments that were made.
Do you, as President of ARCEP, the arrival of Free will eliminate 10,000 jobs?
I am afraid it is much more, if only in that sub-contractors. Nobody seems to get upset because these jobs are not embodied in a factory, but scattered around among operators, distributors, OEMs.
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