The French mobile market accelerated in the second quarter to add 1.101 million new customers, double the amount in Q1. According to the latest quarterly monitor from regulator Arcep, the market counted 74.779 million customers at the end of June, up by 6.1 percent from a year earlier and good for a penetration rate of 114.1 percent.
The M2M market showed strong growth in Q2, adding 775,000 Sims for a total 6.091 million. Postpaid mobile lines increased by 1.006 million to 52.049 million, while prepaid lines fell by 681,000 to 16.639 million. The mobile market showed a sharp slowdown in SMS traffic in Q2, with traffic down by 4.5 percent from Q1 to 47.56 billion messages or an average 222 per customer per month.
The figures above include France's overseas territories. In mainland France, the active mobile base grew by 990,000 in Q2 to a total 69.568 million customers, equal to a penetration of 109.7 percent of the population. Arcep noted the growing number of postpaid customers not tied to a contract, which increased by 2.2 million in the quarter to 22.275 million. The number of customers actively using multimedia data services also continued to grow, increasing by 556,000 in the three months to 34.652 million at the end of June.
