French mobile operators to pay €25m plus 1% tax

French mobile phone operators will have to pay an annual tax of €25m for GSM mobile telecom network licenses, plus an additional yearly tax of 1% on mobile phone revenues.

The Finance Ministry also asked operators to make more significant cuts in their SMS prices, after preliminary cuts in recent weeks.

The ministry also said that Bouygues Telecom would also be subject to these conditions when it renews its licence in 2009. The renewal conditions apply for 15 years from March 25, 2006.