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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.

Angela Merkel has found his political instinct thanks to German tax evaders. Criticized since the inauguration of his new center-right government in late October for his lack of leadership, the chancellor has imposed against the will of its partners liberal FDP and the barons of his party, the CDU, the purchase files containing the names of thousands of taxpayers who have hidden assets in Switzerland. The German opinion ranks behind Merkel's opinion and personalities of all political gradually overcome their moral reservations about buying stolen data, to endorse its decision.

100 000 taxpayers

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing sources close to the investigation, fraud could be much more massive than was originally estimated.After studying hundreds of cases randomly draws the German tax authorities now believes it could recover up to 400 million euros. According to several sources, the data come from the second Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, also reaffirms the daily despite the denials of the institution. In addition, an "internal estimate" of the bank can show that up to 100 000 taxpayers German practice of tax evasion in Switzerland, for a total of 34 billion Swiss francs (23 billion euros), says Süddeutsche Zeitung cash till payday .

Internal documents from Credit Suisse from 2004 might suggest that "over 80% of all Germans who deposit money into accounts at Credit Suisse, Switzerland, German tax authorities to conceal the proceeds of their interests" .An informant offers to sell the files to the German government, for 2.5 million euros a bargain defended the more convinced by the Chancellor that some fraudsters have engaged in concealment amounting to several million euros. "I think there is a common interest in the information. Tax evasion is not a crime chivalrous, "said Friday, the Chancellor.

Legal experts have now the treasury verified all the legal implications related to the purchase of the list, and the way is clear for its acquisition. Fraudsters have only a few hours to withdraw without risking additional sanctions.

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"Berlin will buy the secret Swiss bank

The world of telecom and Internet is one of the largest energy consumers in the world. Also, the giants of the industry can not stand idly by. Alcatel-Lucent and its famous Bell Labs in the United States have therefore taken the initiative to create a consortium, called "Green Touch" to floor on this issue. From the outset, the consortium brings together the best researchers. Around the Bell Labs of Alcatel and research laboratories of Samsung of South Korea are three of the most prestigious American universities specializing in technology: Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. The National Institute for Research in Computer Science (INRIA) and laboratories from CEA-Leti in Grenoble are part of the French side, and the Belgian research institute IMEC.Finally, two operators, Telefonica, and Swisscom, join the adventure.

For six months, Bell Labs, the famous centers of R & D of Alcatel-Lucent, consider a crucial question: "How much energy a telecommunications network can it be reduced without affecting capacity information transmission? "

Networks must be completely redesigned, including the architecture should be changed. For example, "wireless telecommunications are one of the largest contributors to the energy needs of a network. It is easy to reduce the power emitted by an antenna, and therefore consumption, removing his show in all directions in space and focus the signal to the next station or end user, "says the boss research at Bell Labs.Moreover, the power of an antenna of a wireless network can be reduced by using tricks to encode the signal. "Thus, information can be extracted even if the noise level is high." Architecture is another central point: "To perform a calculation, the human brain needs a million times less energy a computer, thanks to its apparently chaotic! "

Consumption divided by 10 000

"After six months of work, we have calculated, based on our many disciplines such as physics, mechanics and quantum computing, it is possible to reduce, at most, by 10 000 energy d a telecommunications network, "said Gee Rittenhouse, head of research at Bell Labs. "We can not do everything alone.We have therefore decided to create a consortium, called "Green Touch," whose objective is already reduced by 1 000 the energy of a telecommunications network within five years. This consortium will bring together four groups of actors: universities, industrial laboratories, research institutes, non-profit and telecommunications operators, "said Gee Rittenhouse.

Besides protecting the environment, this research will have another impact: Increase the amount of data transmitted in the network without increasing the radiation, which concern both consumer groups.