SFR
Encyclopedia
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. It also offers services on the island of Réunion
through SRR (Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone) although the company is branded as SFR Réunion.
SFR is currently 100% owned by the French group Vivendi
. The SFR mobile phone network infrastructure was built by the mobile phone giant Vodafone
, who previously had a 44% share in SFR until April 2011 when it sold the entire share back to Vivendi
.
In 2006, along with Bouygues Télécom
and Orange SA
, SFR was ordered to pay €535 million in fines for the formation of an illegal cartel
(see Le Canard Enchaîné
). SFR, which owns 40.5 percent of Neuf Cegetel
, offered to buy the rest of the first fixed alternate operator in 2007 for €4.5 billion. The goal was to challenge France Telecom
in the market for combined fixed-line, internet, and cellphone services, and to create "the biggest, strongest non-incumbent in Europe", according to the group's statement.
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 phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
company. It has over 20 million customers, and provides over 4.6 million households with high-speed internet access. It also offers services on the island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
through SRR (Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone) although the company is branded as SFR Réunion.
SFR is currently 100% owned by the French group Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
. The SFR mobile phone network infrastructure was built by the mobile phone giant Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
, who previously had a 44% share in SFR until April 2011 when it sold the entire share back to Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
.
In 2006, along with Bouygues Télécom
Bouygues Télécom (company)
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....
and Orange SA
Orange SA
Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. It is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world, with 210 million customers . The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was...
, SFR was ordered to pay €535 million in fines for the formation of an illegal cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
(see Le Canard Enchaîné
Le Canard enchaîné
Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as many jokes and humorous cartoons.-Early...
). SFR, which owns 40.5 percent of Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel
Neuf Cegetel is a French wireline telecom services provider and a mobile virtual network operator offering different services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking number two in the country...
, offered to buy the rest of the first fixed alternate operator in 2007 for €4.5 billion. The goal was to challenge 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 the market for combined fixed-line, internet, and cellphone services, and to create "the biggest, strongest non-incumbent in Europe", according to the group's statement.