Free Mobile is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 mobile broadband

Mobile Broadband

Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone or other mobile device.-Description:...

 company, part of the Iliad

Iliad (company)

Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founded by Xavier Niel in 1999....

 group. It is the fourth company to obtain a French national 3G

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

 licence.

2007-2009: Application for a 3G license

The first 3G

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

 licences were awarded to France Telecom

France Télécom

France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...

 in 2000, SFR

SFR

SFR is a French mobile phone company. It has over 20 million customers, and provides over 4.6 million households with high-speed internet access...

 in 2000 and Bouygues Telecom

Bouygues Telecom

Bouygues Telecom is a French mobile phone and Internet service provider company, part of the Bouygues group. Its headquarters, designed by Arquitectonica, are located at the border of Paris and Issy-les-Moulineaux near the River Seine....

 in 2002.
Free Mobile application has been accepted by French regulatory authority ARCEP on 17 december 2009. The licence price is 240 million euros.

Offers

First offers are expected to be available at the end of 2011 or in early 2012. Mobile subscriptions prices in the whole French market are expected to lower thanks to the arrival of a fourth operator.