back to article Iliad owner coughs €2.3bn for Orange Switzerland

Xavier Niel, the owner of French ISP and mobile phone company Iliad, is buying Orange Switzerland for CHF2.8bn (€2.3bn) from VC Apax Partners. Iliad, under its Free Mobile brand, is a 3G and 4G operator but grew its mobile business through a 2G roaming deal with Orange and used aggressive pricing to grow its market share. …

  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    Illiad, who ?

    Must admit that I have never heard of the name "Illiad" I can only presume that it is the holding company. "Free", however is very well known as they have successfully pissed the major operators, SFR, Orange and Bouygues...

    If they do the same in Switzerland as they have done in France they will make a fortune. Swiss ISPs and Telcos are extremely expensive and I believe that the Swiss public will be enthralled to have some decent competition.

    1. Daniel von Asmuth
      Happy

      Re: Illiad, who ?

      Illiad is a literary pseudonym of J.D. Frazer, who published a daily comic strip on http://www.userfriendly.org. Maybe this story is about a different Illiad, though.

  2. bpfh
    Go

    Illiad is Free's holding company

    And the fact that in France, they have signed a roaming agreement with Orange for 3G is fairly funny, now they are actually buying up Orange abroad.

    They helped clean up the horribly expensive french mobile market, selling for 15 and 20 euros what the competition was selling for 80-160 euros, I hope that this will help our swiss neighbours as their telecom market has not always been a happy one...

    1. Wensleydale Cheese
      Happy

      Re: Illiad is Free's holding company

      "I hope that this will help our swiss neighbours as their telecom market has not always been a happy one..."

      Here' s hoping. I'll be keeping an eye on them to see how it works out.

  3. captain veg Silver badge

    Oi, Xavier

    Where's my fibre optic internet connection, eh?

    -A.

    1. Alistair

      Re: Oi, Xavier

      Over on this side of the pond we've been saying that for ages, or perhaps thats just me since I was working for the folks that promised it and was only 2 blocks outside the test plant zone.......

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