Neuf
 |
|
| Wholly owned subsidiary | |
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Boulogne Billancourt, France |
|
Key people
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Jacques Veyrat (CEO), Philippe Cuverville, Michel Paulin (Deputy CEOs) |
| Products | Fixed telephony, Mobile telephony, Broadband, Internet services, IP TV |
| Revenue | EUR 3.38 billion (2007) |
| Owner | SFR |
| Website | www.neufcegetel.fr |
Neuf Cegetel was a French wireline telecommunications service provider and a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It offered various telecommunications services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking second in the country in annual revenues. It was legally established in 2005 following the completion of the merger between Neuf Telecom (formerly known as LDCOM) and Cegetel. As of June 2008, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of SFR, and the brand disappeared commercially.
LDCOM (the future Neuf Telecom) was established by the Louis Dreyfus Group in 1998, at the time of telecommunications deregulation, with a mission "to rapidly gain access to a network, penetrate into the center of the major urban areas, provide means of interconnection with the motorway networks, and offer the possibility of competitive long-distance links". At first it was present on the wholesale market only, providing services such as national and metro fiber networks, colocation and hosting centers to other operators and internet services providers, using its own network. Its main subsidiary, LD Cable, performed the engineering work, obtaining the necessary permits for the construction works, supplying and laying the fiber optic cables, and negotiating with local and regional authorities in France.
Cegetel was a separate company, established in 1996 as a subsidiary of Groupe SFR Cegetel, which combined a fixed line operator (Cegetel) and a wireless operator (SFR) established in 1987. Cegetel was France's second fixed-line operator, competing directly with France Telecom. It had about 2,000 employees and was using the network operated by "Telecom Development" (TD), a joint venture of Cegetel and the French railways, SNCF. It therefore had extensive network coverage in France, with 32,000 kilometers of fiber along France's railway lines and highways, fiber loops in metropolitan centers, and points of interconnection at the local exchange level.
LDCOM was a smaller company, but fast-moving and opportunistic. Cegetel provided good service and a recognized brand, especially in the enterprise and wholesale segments (over 16,000 corporate clients), but was probably more conservative and slower-moving.
Unlike many (80+) loss-making alternative licensed operators in France, LDCOM was unaffected by the so-called telecoms crash in March 2000 because of its cautious and pragmatic overall approach. From 2000 to 2003, the French telecom services market went through a major consolidation. LDCOM acquired several alternate operators cheaply, including:
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