Numericable Enters France's 4G Price War -- Report

PARIS--French telecom company Numericable SA (NUM.FR) will this week announce one year's free access to 4G high-speed mobile internet services for its subscribers, undermining its competitors efforts to boost revenue with this service, Le Parisien newspaper reports Sunday.

The company will start to charge 9 euros ($12) a month to its subscribers for 4G services once the first free year has passed, the newspaper says.

Numericable, which recently listed its shares on the Paris stock market, doesn't own a mobile telephone network but has signed an agreement with SFR, the mobile telephone unit of Vivendi SA (VIV.FR).

The Numericable offer is the last episode in the 4G price war which began a few months ago by Iliad SA (ILD.FR). The country's three main operators SFR, Orange (ORA.FR), Bouygues Telecom, a unit of Bouygues SA (EN.FR), were all forced to follow suit with Iliad and ditch their original goals to charge 4G users a hefty fee.

Newspaper website: http://www.leparisien.fr

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