French operator Free Mobile's parent company, Iliad, filed a lawsuit at the Paris commercial court in May against mobile and broadband operator SFR for hiding consumer loans with interest rates of 300-400 percent when its sells subsidised mobile phones with its one- or two-year subscriptions, Iliad founder Xavier Niel told Capital magazine. Niel said SFR is providing consumer credit without being subject to legal constraints for this type of service. Orange France and Bouygues Telecom also sell subsidised phones, but Free Mobile adopted a strategy of selling phones separately from service subscriptions, which are either paid in full at purchase or bought on a tradional instalment plan. Niel did not say whether he would also take legal action against Orange and Bouygues for the same practice.
