The French mobile phone market grew in July by 7.4%, or 263,000 subscribers, to 3.8 million, more than double its level of a year ago, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ART) reported on Monday. ART predicted that the four million-subscriber mark should be soon breached, as the month-on-month growth rate is holding at 7%. Of the new subscriber total, 272,000 signed up for the country’s three digital services – Itineris, SFR and Bouygues – while its two analog services lost 9,200 subscribers. The two GSM services, Itineris and SFR GSM, grew 8.9% (171,500 users) and 6.7% (82,400 users), respectively, while DCS 1800 operator Bouygues’ user base grew 8.8% (17,200 users). Bouygues, the last to arrive on the French market, has been trying to close the gap with its competitors with new commercial offers. Bouygues announced on Monday that it would begin selling service contracts with a phone included, which France Telecom launched in June. ART also announced that France’s messaging market grew 5.5% in July, to a total of 1.55 million users.
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