The Latest in IT Security

By Leila Abboud PARIS (Reuters) – French mobile telecoms operator Iliad will lease high-end smartphones to subscribers of its low-cost Free Mobile packages in a long-awaited attack on its larger rivals most profitable business. The deals sparked customer defections from Orange, Vivendis SFR and Bouygues Telecom, but Iliad needed to expand its appeal to higher-margin customers used to receiving help buying smartphones. Iliads packages are different from the sales model used by its competitors, in which customers who sign two-year contracts of at least 20 euros a month receive an upfront subsidy worth 300 euros or more on a smartphone. on price, the packages are very attractive. For example, Iliads lease offer represents a discount of about 40 percent on the cost of buying an iPhone 5S and then taking out a Free Mobile monthly plan.