Iliad subsidiary Free Mobile this week announced the commercial launch of 5G network with 5,255 active sites and that covers almost 40% of the French population.
True to its founding values, Free Mobile has decided to bring 5G within everyone’s reach by including it in the Free Mobile Plan, while keeping the same prices and increasing the fair use data limit.
For its 5G network, Free Mobile uses frequencies in the 700 MHz band – which according to Arcep is the first frequency band to be fully available for 5G (since mid-2019) –as well as frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band which Free Mobile acquired in the French spectrum auction in 2020.
Thanks to its network investments and purchase of frequencies, Free Mobile can offer its subscribers:
• Broad coverage and good indoor reception thanks to the so-called low frequencies (700 MHz), which have very good propagation characteristics.
• Ultra-fast speeds, thanks to 70 MHz in the high frequency band (3.5 GHz) which gives speeds that are up to three times faster than 4G.
Using low frequencies for coverage and high frequencies for speed fully optimizes the Free mobile network. It was a technical choice that all of France’s telcos made when rolling out their 3G and 4G networks.
Free Mobile is principally using European equipment for developing its 4G and 5G networks. In all, over 2,000 people are working day in, day out on deploying this network across the whole of France.
Free Mobile is also giving its subscribers access to the latest 5G smartphones by offering them a wide range of 5G smartphones starting from €319.
The Free Mobile 5G Plan is accessible as from today both for existing Free Mobile Mobile Plan subscribers – at no extra cost – and to new subscribers.
