Exclusive Orange iPhone banned in France

The Conseil de la concurrence, France's competition regulator, has suspended France Telecom's exclusive Apple iPhone 3G deal - which means the phone will also be available from the SFR and Bouygues Telecom networks from tomorrow. France Telecom apparently had a five-year deal with Apple to sell its iPhone on the Orange network in France, which was seen as damaging competition in the mobile phone market. [Sources: WashingtonPost.com; ArsTechnica.com]

French mobile costs cut by regulator

ARCEP, the French telecoms regulator, is cutting wholesale mobile termination rates by around 2 Euro cents per minute from next summer - and again the following year - with consumer call charges expected to fall as a result. [Sources: ARCEP pdf (French); BWCS.com]

Orange caps 3G speeds for iPhone in France

The French Orange network has apparently admitted it's been restricting 3G iPhone speeds to 384KB, although it says it'll increase speeds to 1MB by mid-September. This has added to suggestions that a similar situation may exist in the USA. [Source: Newsfactor.com]

UK leads the world in mobile music

Although the USA is the world's largest retail market for music, the UK leads the mobile music market in Europe. eMarketer says mobile music revenue in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain is expected to reach over £700 million by 2012, up from £134 million in 2007. In addition, advertising-supported mobile music in these five countries is expected to reach £85 million in 2012, up from less than £2½ million in 2007. [Press release]

France's SFR could launch Europe's first 3G femtocell service

Unstrung.com says that France's SFR could be the first European network to launch a 3G femtocell service, letting customers improve their 3G coverage at home by providing a mini-cellsite linked to their broadband connection. The service could be launched in a few months with help from fixed-line operator Neuf Cegetel, which is 40.5% owned by SFR. Neuf Cegetel is currently France's second-largest broadband provider (behind Orange), while SFR is the country's second-largest mobile network (again, behind Orange).

Mobile calls to overtake fixed-line calls this year

The volume of voice calls on mobile phone networks will soon exceed that on traditional fixed networks in Western Europe, says according to a new report from Analysys Research. It says mobile calls will overtake fixed-line calls in the UK and generally in Western Europe by the end of this summer. Mobile voice usage has already surpassed fixed voice in France, although Italy isn't expected to experience this until 2009, with Germany following in 2010. [Press release]