From five euros per month, the fourth operator cuts prices, as announced. Even if the offer will not be fully available right away. Proximus continues to lose weight on the stock market. Concerning?
Digi, the fourth telecom operator in Belgium, launched its first commercial offer on Wednesday. This offers calls, SMS and 15 GB of mobile internet for a price of 5 euros per month. The offer is available nationwide.
So much for the slogan, which is already harming the historic operator, Proximus..
A partial offer to start
“For almost 75% of Belgiansthis mobile offer includes enough data so that they can stay connected and fully enjoy their daily activities, without worrying about a lack of data”, estimates the operator, who had promised “unprecedented prices” in Belgium .
According to a comparison made during the launch press conference, Digi is well below other major operators. You have to pay 14 euros at Orange for 8 GB of data, more than 16 euros at Proximus and Telenet for 5 GB, and 18 euros at VOO for 15 GB. However, the comparison does not include the low-cost brands (Base, Hey!, Mobile Vikings or Scarlet) of these different operators.
Be careful, however, with the quality of the services offered. The offer will only be full and complete at a later stage..
Digi offers, for example, an internet offer from 10 euros per month (for 500 Mbps) using optical fiber. You will have to pay 15 euros to benefit from a 1 Gbps connection and 20 euros for speeds of up to 10 Gbps. However, these products are only available… in the Cureghem districtin Anderlecht, and will be gradually deployed in other municipalities in Brussels in the coming weeks. They will then extend to other Belgian municipalities, mainly in urban areas, during 2025,
Bad news for Proximus
For Proximus, this announced competition is bad news. Its CEO, Guillaume Boutin, had also pointed out the arrival of this fourth operator as a source of the company's poor results on the stock market, in addition to the significant weight of the approximately six billion invested in optical fiber.
Confirmation of this hunch? Proximus shares lost more than 7% on the markets after the commercial announcement of its new competitor Digi. It was worth, around 12:45 p.m., 5.14 euros, the lowest since the start of the year.
Proximus' shares remained stable at the start of the day, before falling. According to the Bloomberg agency, exchanges are currently three times more numerous than usual. The value of Proximus has fallen structurally since the start of the year.
The health of Proximus was questioned in parliamentafter criticism from the MR and the N-VA, and could invite itself to the table of government negotiations with a view to forming Arizon. Even if Guillaume Boutin wanted to reassure about the company's strategy.
