Iliad launches fibre offering in Italy

Iliad Telecom, operator of the Free service in France, has launched its fixed-line proposition in Italy under the Iliadbox brand.

Iliadbox provides fibre broadband with speeds of up to 5Gbps for €15.99 a month to Iliad’s 8.5 million mobile customers in the country.

The Iliadbox, which was developed internally, provides download speeds of up to 5Gbps overall in areas where the operator has EPON fibre coverage, broken down into up to 2.5Gbps on one Ethernet port, 1Gbps on two Ethernet ports and 0.5Gbps over WiFi.

The ultra-fast offering is available to around six million homes across the country, with a further 1.4 million homes able to access speeds of up to 1Gbps.

For non-mobile subscribers, Iliadbox is available for €23.99 a month.

The company is also marketing a WiFi extender, available for €1.99 a month to ensure WiFi coverage in every room.

Benedetto Levi, CEO of iliad in Italy, said: “For months we have received many requests from our mobile users to launch a fibre offer, because they are tired of the lack of transparency in this market. I am really happy to bring the same transparency and quality to fibre today that have always distinguished our mobile offers. An ultra-fast fibre connection at an affordable price can simplify the lives of millions of people and give that push towards digitization that the country so badly needs.”

The fibre offering is viewed as competitive in the price-sensitive Italian market, where Iliad has been a disruptor, particularly for its existing mobile users.

The launch comes amid speculation about a possible merger between Vodafone and Iliad in Italy.

According to Reuters, talks between the pair are ongoing, with Iliad working with investment bank Lazard on the future of its Italian operation.

A combination of Vodafone and Iliad’s Italian operations would create a player with a mobile market share of about 36% and revenues of around €6 billion. Vodafone has a mobile market share of about 23.3% compared with Iliad’s 10.5%.

Vodafone also offers fixed-line services in the country, including pay TV services, with a TV base of around 300,000 customers at the end of September last year. Overall, Vodafone has a 16.5% share of the fixed-line market.