Fiber literally kickstarted Free’s expansion. To develop its proposal and its coverage, the access provider has agreed to heavy investments: 10 billion euros have been spent, which represents more than 40% of the fixed turnover invested in fiber for several years. .
In the end, Free is the operator that has invested the most in this technology since 2006. The human side is not to be outdone, with a team of 12,000 technicians, including 3,600 Free employees. The operator has chosen to train its employees itself, but also its many subcontractors who work in the field. For this, two training centers have emerged from the ground with more than 10,000 people trained.
Today, Free fiber is available in more than 23,400 French towns, representing 33 million connectable sockets. The ISP is a privileged partner of the various Public Initiative Networks (RIP) which intend to accelerate the deployment of very high speed throughout the territory.
This policy is therefore reflected in the number of gross subscribers, but also in the fiber adoption rate, which exceeds 70% of Free fixed subscribers. The operator is staying one step ahead in terms of speed with its 10G-EPON technology, which allows Freebox Delta subscribers to reach a speed 400 times greater than that of ADSL. Free ranks for the second consecutive year at the top of the nPerf barometer in terms of average speed measured with around 600 Mbit/s.
Nicolas Thomas, CEO of Free, says: “This new step is the result of the tremendous involvement of our 3,600 employees dedicated to fiber. Their expertise and their passion are the keys to our success and I salute their daily commitment in the field to serve our subscribers. These performances also validate an ambitious strategy: to provide the best connectivity to as many people as possible. This is a major challenge for society and the competitiveness of territories.”
At the same time, Free is announcing the arrival of a new service in its network of stores, the Free Centers. From now on, consumers will be able to go to these spaces to trade in their old smartphone before falling for a new model offered by Free. In a few minutes, an advisor will estimate the trade-in value. To benefit from this service, you must of course provide proof that you are the owner of the smartphone in question and that you do not have a Free Flex offer in progress. The trade-in value must also be greater than €10.