An amendment to the roaming agreement between Zeop Mobile and Orange in Réunion was submitted to Arcep in April 2025: it extends Zeop Mobile’s roaming rights on the Orange network by a year (from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026)
The two operators signed a new amendment to this contract, which was notified to Arcep on 8 April 2025, extending Zeop Mobile’s ability to roam on the Orange network for a year (from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026), and reducing the scope of this voice, SMS and data roaming to only the Orange 3G network in Réunion, where it had previously applied to Orange 2G, 3G and 4G networks. This change is part of a plan to gradually phase out roaming, based on the volume of remaining traffic involved. The amendment also brings changes to the financial terms and conditions of the roaming solution. The other terms and conditions remain the same as those in the initial contract.
Arcep published a press release in May 2025 to inform market stakeholders of the signature of this amendment, and invited their comments. Following this call for feedback, Arcep received observations from the firm SRR, which it is publishing today.
The Law gives Arcep the ability to request changes to mobile network sharing contracts if “required to meet regulatory objectives set forth in Article L. 32-1 or to fulfil the commitments written into licences to use radio frequencies”[1]. To this end, and to share the analytical framework used to assess these contracts, in May 2016 Arcep adopted a set of guidelines for network sharing agreements[2]. The Authority thus examined the amendment in relation to these elements, and began an adversarial phase with Zeop Mobile and Orange, which is protected by business secrecy.
After an in-depth examination, Arcep concluded that it does not appear necessary to request that Zeop Mobile and Orange modify their agreement to extend their roaming contract until March 2026
Arcep concluded that extending voice, SMS and data roaming on the Orange 3G network until March 2026 is not likely to create an obstacle to achieving the regulatory objectives set out in CPCE Article L. 32-1, particularly those of safeguarding fair and effective competition for the benefit of users, the development of investment, innovation and competitiveness in the electronic communication sector, notably in light of:
- the reduced scope of roaming to only the Orange 3G network,
- the overall decrease in Zeop Mobile roaming data traffic since 2017 and the volumes of roaming voice, SMS and data traffic covered by the agreement,
- the market situation,
- Zeop Mobile’s deployment of its own network.
The amendment also provides the ability to extend roaming for voice and SMS services and “possibly for remaining low-speed data tied to voice service use” for an additional year. This potential extension will require an additional amendment – which must be notified to Arcep. Should that occur, Arcep will examine that amendment with respect to regulatory objectives.
The Authority will continue to ensure that Zeop Mobile remains committed to deploying its own network.
Associated document:
[1] This authority is stipulated in Article L.34-8-1-1 of the French Postal and Electronic Communications Code, created by Act No. 2015-990 of 6 August 2015 on Growth, economic activity and equal economic opportunity.