Bouygues SA unit Bouygues Telecom has launched its mobile telecommunications network in the Paris region, to become the third cellular telecommunications operator in France. The company plans to use an aggressive pricing structure to compete with rivals France Telecom and the Societe Francaise des Radiocommunications SA affiliate of Generale des Eaux SA. A monthly charge equivalent to $46.60 includes three hours of free phone calls to destinations within a radius of 65 miles – on average people tend to uses their mobile phones for about two hours per month. Calls that exceed the 65-mile limit are to be charged at $0.39 per minute at peak rate, $0.19 per minute off- peak. International calls are to retain the same pricing structure as calls made on the fixed network. It is based on the standard DCS1800 Groupe Speciale Mobile standard, and Bouygues will initially cover 20 miles around Paris, incorporating about 15% of the French population. By the end of 1997 it plans to cover about 50% of the population, and claims it will extend the Paris radius to 38 miles and establish networks in areas of northern and southern France. The Bouygues consortium, made up of the Bouygues Group and Jean-Claude Decaux Group together owning 51%, Cable & Wireless Plc with 20%, Verb AG with 15%, US West Inc and Banque National de Paris with 5% each, and Compagnie Financiere de Paribas, 3%, and estinated it will have spent about $600m developing the network by the year-end.
