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26-05-2006, 19:55
<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>French Grocery Chain Auchan Launches MVNO On SFR Network</span>
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- French supermarket chain Auchan announced Friday it would launch a full mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, on Vivendi Universal's SFR network.
The concept of MVNOs, under which a company rents capacity from a network operator and resells it under its own brand, is gaining ground in France, one of Europe's least competitive mobile markets.
In April, Carphone Warehouse Group and Virgin Group unveiled plans to enter the market.
Network operators in France have tried to resist the entrance of MVNOs because of the threat posed to their revenue from cut-price offers. However, pressure from regulators has led to SFR, France Telecom's Orange and Bouygues's unit Bouygues Telecom renting out capacity to MVNOs.
According to the French regulator ARCEP there are currently nine MVNO players in France including Neuf Cegetel, Coriolis Telecom and Tele2.
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