French MNOs on bill & keep for Free Mobile SMS termination

French mobile network operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom are using the 'bill and keep' system for SMS communications with new entrant Free Mobile until they can agree interconnection rates with the latter, Le Monde reports. Telecom regulator Arcep, which set voice interconnection rates for Free Mobile, did not do so for SMS, expecting operators to reach deals bilaterally. It is up to the operators to refer the matter to Arcep for arbitration. As of 30 January, none of them had done so. Free asked the three other MNOs to pay it EUR 0.0285 per SMS arriving on its network until the end of June, then EUR 0.0235 until the end of the year. This would give it a differential of EUR 0.0135 per SMS for all of 2012. Bouygues Telecom general secretary Didier Casas, said this was totally unacceptable, as it equates to Free asking its rivals to pay for its customers' SMS. Free parent company Iliad's CEO, Maxime Lombardini, said that its request for asymmetry is reasonable, with the network still being rolled out and a higher theoretical cost per SMS than competitors. Free is asking for a lower SMS termination rate than those its rivals were benefiting from as recently as between 2006 and September 2010, when Bouygues was charging EUR 0.035 per SMS, and Orange and SFR EUR 0.03.