The Paris commercial court ruled that Free had not engaged in any deceptive commercial practices in its advertising campaigns, reports said. The gallery. The jammer operator had stated that ” the largest 5G network in France “. This decision represents a hard blow for Orange who had accused Free of unfair competition in February 2021.
Communication battle around 5G
This case highlights the intense competition between telecommunications operators to capture the 5G market. Orange criticized Free for not specifying the performance and speeds associated with each frequency band in its communication, which, according to the historical operator, could mislead consumers. Free mainly uses already existing low frequencies (700 MHz) to implement 5G: the implementation is therefore much easier than for the high frequencies used by Orange, which require the installation of antennas.
The problem is that these low frequencies are also synonymous with speeds close to those of 4G; nothing to do with the wonderful promises of 5G. Free claims 5G coverage of 94% of the population, compared to only 60% for Orange. This difference is explained by the strategic choices of the two operators: Free focuses on a wide coverage of the territory, while Orange favors higher speeds with the use of high frequencies. Free’s strategy was validated by the court, which therefore confirmed that the operator has the largest number of 5G sites in France.
The court’s judgment also clarified that Free’s communication was not misleading even though it did not detail the speeds associated with each frequency band. According to the court, Free’s network complies with the 5G standard, which is enough to rule out Orange’s accusations. The court not only rejected Orange’s requests for compensation and injunction, but also ordered the latter to pay 150,000 euros to Free.
Orange said to himself ” surprised » and criticizes the judgment which, according to him, does not take into account the real benefits and characteristics of 5G for consumers. The historical operator accuses Free of denigrating its flat network deliberately the speed limits of the frequency band of 700 MHz.
In this area as in others, each operator tries to assert its advantages by minimizing the strengths of its competitors. 5G promises significant improvements in speed and connectivity, but the diversity of frequency bands and deployment strategies make comparison difficult for the general public. Orange plans to appeal this decision, emphasizing that the lack of clear information on speeds in the 700 MHz frequency band harms transparency for consumers.
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