Vitis, a new “telco” for the rural areas – The Echoes

It is a telecom operator of a new genre that sees the light of day. Netgem, the Caisse des dépôts and the reunion Océinde combine to launch Vitis, an operator’s triple play (phone, tv, Internet) with dual specificity : it aims at providing the fiber, so the very high speed which allows in particular the Internet super-fast, to homes located in rural areas.

Vitis wants to differentiate itself from other players in the market, with a single bid at 39,90 euros per month, offering Internet (1 Gb/s), television, telephone and most importantly a bonus, with the video to the unlimited demand that is included in the subscription, or more than 1,000 films and series. And also in-room movies (payable at the unit). This is possible thanks to the catalog of VOD of Videofutur, property of Netgem, a company specializing in software and set-top boxes for television. The offer is also marketed under the brand name Videofutur, already enough known in France.

” This is not a baby mouse that we accouchons today, ” says Joseph Haddad, president of Netgem, which owns 55 % of Vitis (valued € 21 million), to the sides of the CDC (33 %) and Océïnde (12 %), which provides the technological building blocks for the information system, as well as call centers.

The “big 4″ shun the less densely populated areas

With this offer, Vitis applies only to households located in the less densely populated areas. Where local communities, with the support of the State, deploying networks of public initiative (RIP), co-financed by operators who ask the fiber (Axione, Altitude, Covage, etc.). More than 50 % of the departments are already covered by the RIPS, and ” in 2017, Vitis will deploy in the Channel, the Doubs, or the Loire, in the complement of the Essonne and the Seine-et-Marne, where we start “, stresses Mathias Hautefort, president.

Vitis is not born by chance. Today, the problem is that the ” big 4 “, that is to say, the four major telecom operators (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free) are reluctant to market their offerings on the RIP, because it is less profitable than in the big cities. Only small alternative operators there are. “The profitability of the RIP depends on their marketing, point to an observer. the If there are not enough bids to operators on the RIP, there is a real risk for local elected officials that their request accounts in a few years. ”

For Vitis, there is a market to take. “The communities are now almost guaranteed to have for the general public an offer they will not have to blush,” says Gabrielle Gauthey, director of investments and development of the local CDC. With an offer worthy of the “big 4″ but less expensive, Vitis intends to become the leader of the alternative operators to the fiber. It aims to 20 % penetration in the RIP of the next two years. If it does, this could well decide the “big 4″ to do the same, if they don’t want to leave the market to the competitor.

Fabienne Schmitt