Xavier Niel is playing rough with the internet giant
Free was showing its clout by threatening to damage Google’s advertising-driven
business model in France. Mr Niel’s calculation was that few of his 5m-odd
customers would leave just because the default settings deprived them of
Google’s ads. Default settings are quite easy to change, after all. Free is also
suspected of deliberately choking off its subscribers’ connection to YouTube,
Google’s video-streaming service, during peak hours. YouTube takes up lots of
bandwidth on the internet, especially as more people choose to watch “Gangnam
Style” and “Dumb Ways to Die” in high definition. The telecoms regulator is
investigating.
