Submitted by Mike Grenville on Tue, 27 Jan 2004 21:52

Following complaints by the French PM that SMS prices are too high, Orange France have launched two new pricing plans that can cut the price consumers pay by 50%

Orange claims that it now offers not only the most competitive SMS pricing in France, but that it compares well to pricing across Europe in particular with regard to pricing in Germany, UK, Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.

Consumers can buy a package of 250 SMS plus 50 to other Orange subscribers for 25 Euros resulting in a price of 0.083 euro cents per SMS. Other options on offer can bring the price down to 0.053 euro cents

However by offering different pricing depending whether the message is sent to another Orange subscriber or other operators consumers are likely to remain confused.

Orange claims to have 49 % of the French market and more than 19.6 million customers as at 30 Septembre 2003.