Less than a week to go before the debut of the Iliad fiber : Benedeto Levi, managing director of the operator, will announce all the details on the first offers for home connections during a press conference to be held on Tuesday, 25 January.
We already know that for the fixed line Iliad will rely on the OpenFiber infrastructure and that it will offer FTTH (Fiber To The Home) connections with speed up to 1 Gbps , but otherwise we don't have much more information about it.
However, to get an idea of what we can expect, it may be interesting to take a look at what is happening in France and, in particular, at the offers of Free , the French operator owned by Iliad, the same company that manages the operator of the same name in Italy.
There are several differences between the French and Italian markets and one cannot always take as an example what happens beyond the Alps, especially when speaking of prices . In fact, in France, connections (both mobile and fixed) are on average more expensive than in Italy.
However, a look at what is happening in France can be useful to get an idea of the commercial strategy that Iliad could adopt in Italy. We therefore want to focus on two fundamental points of the offer, which in our opinion could also be replicated in our country.
It is extremely probable that the company bets on converging offers , i.e. on customers who choose Iliad as both mobile and fixed operator. It is a strategy already adopted by many Italian operators (among the most aggressive converging offers in terms of prices, we recall those of Fastweb and Tiscali), which aims to retain customers and convince them to maximize spending overall, offering a considerable discount if you choose the same carrier for both the smartphone and the fiber.
This strategy, already successful in itself, makes particular sense for Iliad , which has always bet on transparency towards its customers, earning their trust in the brand.
According to various surveys (such as this one, conducted by the German Quality and Finance Institute in the first months of 2021) Iliad is the most popular operator in Italy : we are sure that several satisfied mobile customers will be willing to choose the operator's optical fiber, especially if the change of fixed line operator will lead to overall savings.
Also in France, Free offers a concrete advantage for those who choose the operator on both fixed and mobile: in particular, Free halves the cost of the mobile offer for those who also have a fixed line.
As we have already mentioned, prices in France are higher than in Italy and do not make much text , but we mention them anyway to give you an idea: Free's flagship fiber connection costs 29 , 99 € / month for the first year, after which the price rises to 39.99 € / month. Subscribers are entitled to the discounted price for mobile, which goes from € 19.99 / month to € 9.99 / month (for unlimited calls and messages + 210 GB in 5G) .
Speaking of prices, it is really difficult to make a prediction: we reiterate that French costs are not a term of comparison and the only way to get a plausible idea of how much Iliad fiber will cost in Italy is to take a look at the price of the offers of the cheapest operators who rely on Open Fiber. In this regard, Tiscali – currently the cheapest among the big names – offers its own FTTH fiber connection up to 1 Gbps at € 23.95 for those who also have Tiscali Mobile (+ € 7.99 / month for the offer mobile).
Having to venture a hypothesis, we believe it probable that the Iliad fiber will have a cost of around € 25 / month , similar to most other operators.
More than on extreme savings (impossible, due to the cost of the Open Fiber infrastructure), Iliad is likely to choose the path of converging offers and included services (see next paragraph).
In France, the main Free offer concerns the Freebox Pop package which, at a price of € 29.99 / month for the first year and then € 39.99 / month, includes not only the fiber subscription (up to 5 Gbps), but also three hardware devices: the router , a WiFi repeater and a TV box (based on Android TV and equipped with a special remote control).
The Freebox Pop router (which in Italy could be called Iliadbox Pop ) is a latest generation router, with all the latest technologies: WiFi AC2100 dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), technology support MU-MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output), Bluetooth 5.0, security standard WP3 and three Ethernet ports (two 1 Gbps, one 2.5 Gbps).
It has a rather advanced operating system, which includes a file manager on the network and the ability to install virtual machines (but only on Freebox Delta, we'll go back).
It is confirmed that Iliad's fiber router will be based on Freebox Pop (probably on version 8, the last one launched): not only with one of the latest operating system updates, FreeboxOS, has been introduced the support for the Italian language , but the CEO of Iliad, Thomas Reynaud, in the past has explicitly declared his will to bring the Freebox system also in Italy.
But, as mentioned, the Freebox system is not composed only of the router: there is also a self-installing WiFi repeater (if you are wondering, it is a simple repeater, not a mesh network) and especially a TV box called Player Pop.
Player Pop is based on Android TV , and therefore supports all apps on the Play Store, includes support for 4K HDR Dolby Vision , Dolby Atmos and has a dedicated remote control with Google Assistant button.
In the Freebox Pop offer, Free includes access to OQEE , a 220-channel television service managed directly by Free, 12 months of Canal + (television channel French subscription) and 6 months of Disney + . In addition, of course, it also supports subscriptions to Netflix and Prime Video .
However, for those who do not like the Pop Player included in the offer, Free includes the possibility to purchase one Apple TV 4K in installments, at the additional price of € 2.99 / month for 48 months.
Although Freebox Pop is the solution that Free pushes the most, in France the operator also offers Freebox Delta .
This is a more expensive subscription (€ 39.99 / month for the first year, after € 49.99 / month), which however includes not only better hardware (the Freebox Delta box, which replaces the Pop version router, supports connections up to 10 Gbps and also acts as a NAS ), but also subscriptions: in addition to the 12 months of Canal + and the 6 months of Disney + already mentioned, the subscription to Freebox Delta includes Netflix and Prime Video subscriptions .
For more information on the difference between the various Freebox models, we refer you to the relevant comparison page (in French).
In our opinion, it is extremely likely that Iliad will decide to start with Freebox Pop , which has a more contained hardware and will allow it to debut on the Italian market with a lower price.
Then allow us a gamble: the name P or p goes well with the somewhat strange claims chosen by Iliad ( Toooooooooooop on the official website and Woooooooooow in advertisements); furthermore, the letter or seems to have particular importance for the marketing strategy, given that in a promotional video ( which you can see in the tweet above) the CEO Benedetto Levi “eats one” (in the form of mint).
It is very likely that also in Italy we will see commercial agreements with streaming services , similar to what we saw in France (therefore a certain number of months included or, potentially, even included forever in the subscription).
The strength of Freebox / iliadbox will be to become an integral part of the living room of the Italians, offering good hardware and a decent integration of services.
Speaking of services, it is very likely that Iliad will have entered into commercial partnerships not only with the most famous names in the sector (Netflix, Prime Video), but also with local services, such as Chili and Infinity + .
