There are two blocks of frequencies to provide 3G mobile by ARCEP and will be awarded by next summer for about 120 million euros each.
In January last ARCEP assigned a block of 5 MHz to 15 MHz of mobile spectrum of the fourth 3G license in Iliad, which now has until 2012 to launch its mobile telephony offer called Mobile Free.
In a recent interview with news agency Reuters, Jean-Ludovic Silicani, head of the French telecoms regulator, said that the two blocks 5 MHz of 3G spectrum will be allocated the remaining by next summer “We hope to make public the rules (editor’s note: the call for applications) in mid-February. The deadline for responses will be late March or mid-April. The two blocks of 5 MHz frequencies will be allocated to later in May ”
Regarding the price of each block of 5 MHz, the president of the national regulator has confirmed the price was raised by the press, namely around 120 million euros each.
Returning on hopes of lower prices with the arrival of Free Market, Jean-Ludovic Silicani said he does not believe: “Prices will fall, they have already begun to fall. I do not for fear that prices are broken, as some might fear. I do not think prices will be broken, for Free can not afford to undercut it. ”
Frequencies of 4G on sale soon
Jean-Ludovic Silicani also advised that licenses 4G (read our dossier on the subject) will be awarded late 2010 / early 2011 (in fact, proto-4G: what are the frequencies for LTE and WiMAX from the digital dividend, around 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz band) with some selection criteria promises to cover priority areas sparsely: “Parliament has assigned priority to this 4th generation of mobile coverage areas sparsely or less dense priority. This should be enrolled in one way or another in the criteria for selecting candidates. ”
This obligation will relatively attractive price of a license for those who answer the call: “As this obligation is necessarily costly (…), these frequencies will be less expensive than if there had been no such coverage requirement. It means that these frequencies will be at purchase, not necessarily very expensive. “
Tags: ARCEP 3G license, licenses, power spectrum 3G mobile 3G