French operator Iliad has launched its Italian mobile operation under the Iliad brand, promising to revolutionise the market with an offer of 30GB of 4G+ data, plus unlimited calls and SMS for EUR 5.99 a month. The company’s CEO Benedetto Levi announced the offer at a press conference in Milan, claiming that it’s five times cheaper than rival offers and adding that it will be limited to the first 1 million customers who sign up to Iliad. The plan also includes unlimited calls to over 60 international destinations plus 2GB of EU data roaming.
SIM cards cost EUR 9.99 and can be acquired at the 100-plus Iliad Stores and Corners distributed throughout the country. The operator is also introducing automatic SIM card distribution machines called 'Simbox' at its shops.
Iliad's introductory offer is well below the usual prices in Italy. According to the latest research from Telecompaper, the average price for a Sim-only plan with more than 1,000 minutes and 10GB a month was EUR 23 per month in Italy in the first quarter of 2018.
During the presentation of Iliad's offer, Levi also reiterated Iliad’s pledge to offer consumers transparency, simplicity and no hidden costs, bringing up recent fines issued by antitrust authority AGCM and communications watchdog Agcom over misleading advertising by Italy's main operators and probes into collusion over billing practices. "Over the past year, Italy’s leading operators made a profit in excess of EUR 4 billion with tricks and misleading ads," said Levi, according to La Repubblica, adding that "it's time to say enough is enough, to turn the page and start from scratch with our revolution."
The new operator is using assets released by CK Hutchison and VimpelCom’s units in Italy to appease regulatory concerns that their merger would reduce the mobile market from four to three players. The assets are set to cost Iliad in the region of EUR 450 million, although in March the parent company’s CEO Maxime Lombardini said the aim was to invest a total of EUR 1 billion in its Italian subsidiary, with EUR 314 million having already been spent. Iliad also has a roaming deal in place with Wind Tre to provide nationwide mobile coverage as it roll out its own infrastructure.
Last year Iliad founder Xavier Niel said the goal of the company’s first international venture was to reach 10 to 15 percent of the Italian mobile market as soon as possible with aggressive offers.
