France Telecom sues city of Paris on free Wi-Fi hotzones
If you can’t compete, sue. That seems to be France Telecom’s (and many telcos’) strategy when it comes to Wi-Fi. France Telecom has filed a complaint against the city of Paris for allowing free Wi-Fi access in 400 public spaces. This is a project that France Telecom bid on and lost. Sour grapes.
If you can’t compete, sue. That seems to be France Telecom’s (and many telcos’) strategy. France Telecom has filed a complaint against the city of Paris for allowing free Wi-Fi access in 400 public spaces. Sour grapes.
The city issued an RFP last year and selected SFR to deploy the network in museums, parks and libraries. Orange, France Telecom’s wholly owned cellular carrier, bid for the project, as did Neuf Cegetel/ TDF and Meteor Networks.
The city maintains that the free Wi-Fi service complements those offered by other operators and does not compete unfairly with them. For example, access is available only during the opening hours of those libraries and museums (and parks although I can’t see how they would turn that off in a public park).
France Telecom has 2250 hotspots (all requiring payment) throughout the city. These compete with the growing number of free Wi-Fi service offered by cafes, restaurants, hotels, and generous residents who want to share their connections (Foneros, for example).
Incumbent operators in Europe have shown no reluctance to throw their weight around and use their army of lawyers to stop innovative projects, just like this US counterparts. They’re terrified of free, open networks that used unlicensed spectrum because they’re in the bill-for-each-bit, artificial scarcity business.
No wonder European Commissioner for telecoms, Viviane Reding, is dying to impose structural separation on them.
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