In June, Free – France’s leading alternative fibre operator – reached the milestone of 5 million fibre subscribers. This performance is the result of Free’s ambitious strategy of investing in its network and innovating, combined with the quality of its sales offerings and the daily mobilisation of its 3,600 employees dedicated to fibre. Free is France’s leading fibre operator in terms of take-up rate, with 70% of its fixed-line subscribers connected to fibre*.

More than 23,400 municipalities covered by Free

Free is a major player in regional rollouts, co-financing their deployment and working committedly with local authorities. Free is a partner of almost all the country’s Public Initiative Networks (PINs), enabling it to provide fibre coverage to more than 23,400 municipalities, with over 33 million connectible sockets.

Free – France’s operator that invests the most in fibre 

With over €10 billion worth of cumulative investment in fibre, and more than 40% of its fixed-line revenue invested in fibre over the past few years, Free is France’s operator that invests the most in fibre**.  

3,600 Free employees dedicated to fibre 

Free’s successful development of fibre is thanks to the incredible mobilisation of its fibre teams. Every day, 12,000 technicians including 3,600 Free employees, move into action to connect up our subscribers.

Free has set up a special organisation and training processes whose standards are among the highest in its industry to train not only our own technicians but also those of our partner contractors. For example, over the past few years we have set up two training centres specifically for fibre. To date, Free has trained more than 10,000 technicians and supervisors since launching fibre.

A stand-out strategy that’s yielding results 

Reaching the milestone of 5 million fibre subscribers clearly demonstrates the trust and confidence that our users have in us, as well as the quality of our stand-out offering:

• Free has always offered fibre at the same price as ADSL.
• All Freeboxes marketed in unbundled areas are fibre-compatible.
• And Free is the only operator in France to offer 10G-EPON technology, which gives download speeds of up to 8 Gbps.

Nicolas Thomas, CEO of Free, said: “This new milestone is the outcome of the incredible efforts of our 3,600 employees dedicated to fibre. Their expertise and passion for their work are the keys to our success and I am extremely proud of what they do every day in the field to serve our subscribers. Our performance also proves how we have got our ambitious strategy right, namely providing the best connectivity for as many people as possible. It’s a major challenge for society and a crucial factor for ensuring regional competitiveness.”