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While the Internet has become as indispensable as water or electricity, Pierre Danon, CEO of Numericable, announced that the cable operator will introduce a social tariff, responding to the request of the Prime Minister.

LE FIGARO. – For 9.99 euros per month, which will service the right customers?

Pierre Danon. – The Prime Minister had asked the operators a triple play package of around 20 euros for the poor. Numericable goes beyond and offers 9.99 euros a month for 60 channels of television (DTT channels and a selection of foreign channels), Internet access at 2 Mbps and unlimited calls in metropolitan France.There are two requirements to be eligible for this offer: being beneficiary of the RSA or disabled adult allowance and live in housing benefit service unique digital Numericable.

Will you receive compensation from the state?

The universal service fund, managed by the Caisse des depots, should pay a subsidy of 4.21 euros per month per subscriber to Numericable. This package will therefore revert to 5.99 euros a month to subscribers, 4 euro is already included in the charges. I sent a letter yesterday with the offer to Prime Minister, Arcep and services Bercy. If they approve our offer within two months we could launch it this summer.

What advantage Numericable?

It is primarily a historical constant of the cable as being involved in social housing and community.On the other hand, Numericable, who will work with municipalities and departments on this job should be able to equip a large number of new homes. Some customers take the social tariff, but others choose our offerings more upscale. I think that with this offer we can win new customers. We are now at 25% market share on the recruitment of new Internet subscribers. This should enable us to progress further. Not to mention that in dealing with public housing offices, Numericable reduces acquisition costs and delinquency risks.

You had already launched in November offer "low cost" to 19.90 euros. What is the result?

This offer works very well. It represents approximately one third of our new subscribers. Auchan is also to engage the clutch on this niche, because there is a real logic to segment the market.They are not social but tender offers "low-cost targeted. For example, many people do not use the TV service yet they pay their standard Internet package at 30 euros a month. We must stop the dictatorship of the package at 30 euros, which was a stroke of genius Free, but has not moved for four years.

After Darty and Auchan Bouygues Telecom, will you welcome new operators on your fiber network?

We are in discussions with various partners, but he must first deal with the influx of new customers for our partners. Auchan has trained 1 200 hypermarkets in 72 vendors!

The picture improves Numericable does to customers?

Yes. Having been a champion of consumer complaints, admittedly, we're totally out of radar DGCCRF.The service was bad a year ago, we made a lot of work, it is now correct. And we will still improve.

Having renounced the 4th license, what are your plans in the mobile?

Our priority remains the fiber. On the mobile, we are virtual network operator Bouygues Telecom. We will soon launch a 3G and a key card offer prepaid. But we do not support the pedal fully, because we can not afford to spend millions of euros to acquire a subscriber base.In 2010-2011, Numericable focuses on profitable growth.

Are you still handicapped by the weight of your debt?

Having renegotiated our debt with the bankers in November, we loosened the noose and we are perfectly comfortable with our deadlines for repayment of 1.5 billion euros by 2014.

The connected TV is it a concern for you, whose job is to aggregate a bunch of strings?

It is a subject that we anticipated early 2009 with our range of interactive TV "2.0", and we continue to invest. We have discussions with several manufacturers of televisions. In April, Numericable present its first applications in the form of widgets available on the TV screen.We will launch thematic portals (youth, sports, entertainment …) which will become real media capable of guiding the client and recommend programs.

The consumption of manufactured goods rose more households in November. After a 1% increase in October, the index has shown quasi-stable -0, 1%, according to figures from INSEE.

This figure was supported, as in previous months, by buying cars in significant increase of 4.2% in line with the trend observed since August. "The household benefit last months of premium breaks down before his scheduled first next January, said Insee.

In contrast, spending on equipment housing slows markedly, to 0.2%, against 2.1% in October. "If they keep their spending in electrical and electronic households have reduced their spending on furniture," said INSEE.

The week's floating balances authorized in November did not save the textiles and leather. Purchases fell 1.8% in November, two months after dynamic (+2.4% in October and 3% in September).

In 2009, INSEE expects a limited increase in consumption of 0.7%, after 0.9% in 2008. Consumption is the traditional engine of French growth and growing at a rate of 2 to 2.5% until 2007.

Air France would seek to lower its costs, including the medium-haul. According to The Tribune on Tuesday, the company would increase 15 to 20% the productivity of its flight personnel (pilots, flight attendants) to counter the stiff competition from airlines Low-cost flights and the TGV.

The newspaper said the number of flight hours performed by the pilots could spend an average of 565 per year to 650. They totaled 700 at Easyjet, Ryanair 900 and 850 hours at Transavia, low-cost subsidiary of Air France. The group would however have to review the collective agreements which run until 2011 for pilots and 2013 cabin crew.

The newspaper said that these figures were announced Friday by the Director General Bruno Matheu marketing at an internal meeting between the leadership and cadres of the group.However, management told AFP today that she "had never advanced figure Friday. However, "reform on the short and medium haul should be prior consultation with the aircrew," she added.

The first group of German steel company, ThyssenKrupp announced Friday the creation of a restructuring plan to scale. Severely hit by the economic crisis that has plunged the global demand for steel, the past fiscal year was the worst in company history, the group had announced last November a loss before tax annual 2.4 billion euros. Excluding items, its loss came out to 734 million euros. So, ThyssenKrupp said Friday that it would cut 20,000 jobs worldwide by the end of September 2010, reducing the number of employees to 167,000.

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp expects the recovery in global economy to return to the path of growth, but "this fledgling economic recovery remains fragile and we believe that improvement will be slow," said Management Board Chairman Ekkehard Schulz, ThyssenKrupp ."For 2010, the risk of a temporary downturn persists," he said. Given the lack of visibility, the group, which produces steel, submarine or lifts, the coup was adjusted slightly downward Friday its medium-term objectives. It now expects sales of between 50 and 60 billion euros, against a previous target of 60 to 65 billion euros and earnings before taxes "over 4 billion euros, rather than between 4 and 5 billion.

ArcelorMittal, the French rival ThyssenKrupp, has also warned that the recovery in 2010 would be gradual and that the environment remains difficult. This lack of visibility had forced him to deliver a very conservative forecast for the last three months of 2009

On November 16th is the day J. To this date will begin a public inquiry into the grand scheme of Norbert Dentressangle in Sabran, in the Gard. The motor carrier has build a strong photovoltaic power of 11.5 MWp (megawatt peak), enough to power a city of 3 000. If the case succeeds, Sabran, with 1 600 inhabitants, is one of the few French villages to produce more green energy than it consumes electricity. This is a winery on 70 acres that the photovoltaic plant Financial Norbert Dentressangle, through its subsidiary Norbert Dentressangle Sustainable Development (N3D) will install its solar farm. "It would occupy about 26 hectares," explains Jean-Louis Savoye, chief investment officer for Financial Norbert Dentressangle.

Investment is expected to be approximately 45 million euros.However, the carrier gave no timetable. Prudence understandable because farmers in the south of France, are opposed to the erection of wind turbines or solar panels on cropland. "We do not seek this type of land, warns Jean-Louis Savoye. These are homeowners who have contacted us because they wanted to sell and stop their activity. "We can not always support an activity that is not viable, says the mayor of Arles, Jean-Marc Jorda.Furthermore, we negotiated with Dentressangle it undertakes to restore the land under cultivation on the day he would quit his electrical activity.

Business tax preserved

Another precaution taken by the City Council: "We negotiated in case of removing the business tax without compensation to the State, Norbert Dentressangle pay the equivalent of the amount to the town, 150 000," says Jean – Marc Jordan. This represents approximately 10% of the municipal budget.

After the construction of a roof made of solar panels on one of its warehouses in Lyon, and filing a case under public inquiry into the common Bessan in Hérault (10 acres of solar panels approximately 15 million euro investment), this solar farm project in the Gard is the largest so far devised by N3D."We will work on this activity as an investor in the long term, and also have a social and ecological footprint responsibly as possible", says one in Norbert Dentressangle. In Sabran Photovoltaic Park is located on an elevated plateau natural and should therefore have a limited visual impact, or "nonexistent," according to Jean-Marc Jorda.