Le Monde | • Updated | By
The start of the big game of the assignment of new frequencies to mobile operators in France, in the 700 MHz band, previously used for broadcasting television digital terrestrial, began. Thursday, July 9, the Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Macron, and the Secretary of State to digital, Axelle Lemaire announced they had signed the order setting, on a proposal from the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts (ARCEP ), frequency allocation conditions for the 700 MHz band.
The submission of bids by operators, according to the process of the auction, will be in the second part of the year and the allocation of frequencies will take place in December 2015.
- What do the frequencies 700 MHz?
To build a network, mobile operators need radio frequencies that form a spectrum which are issued communications. This is part of the public domain, so that the state allocates parts or batches, after auction which operators are called to participate. Sale of frequencies in the 700 MHz band comes four years after that of the 800 MHz frequencies.
The 700 MHz frequencies, dubbed “golden frequencies” have the dual advantage of enabling the mobile network to better penetrate in buildings – these waves pass through concrete – and be very useful in low density areas because they provide good coverage with a limited number of antennas. Currently occupied by the channels of digital terrestrial television (DTT), these frequencies will be freed gradually, between the 1 st in December 2015 and the 1 st in July 2019.
- Operators abreast
Faced with an explosion of Internet data streams, operators need more spectrum. As indicated Arcep, Constable telecom “the allocation of the 700 MHz band is of strategic importance for the deployment of mobile networks at very high speed and extended performance in the short and medium term, and to accompany, in the longer term, future innovations. ” The 700 MHz band will allow the deployment of 4G mobile services, already initiated by operators, and the later the 5G.
For operators, this tender is the last before a long time. They must therefore ensure retrieve lots. This is especially true for Free. The group founded by Xavier Niel (also the individual shareholder to World ) does currently has very little low frequency and only in the 900 MHz band. This creates, according to ARCEP, an imbalance with its competitors.
- terms of allocation which does not ultimately make Free Gift
Crucial, this point was finally settled in June. Two scenarios were competing. The first is a normal auction process in which several applicants file a bid for each proposed lots and where the highest prevail. The second was to reserve a particular batch to Free. According to ARCEP, an operator can not be competitive if it has a lot of low frequencies. The group recalled for his part that on his arrival in the market, Bouygues Telecom was granted benefits to make up for his lack of frequencies. However, Orange, Numericable, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, and ensure preferential frequencies entering the fourth would have been a distortion of competition. According to them, Free has already had the opportunity to obtain low frequencies in 2011 at the auction for the 800 MHz band. But, they recall, the sum proposed by the operator had, at the time, was considered inadequate.
Finally, ARCEP decided not to book batch to Free. The regulator proposes to divide into 6 blocks of 5 MHz frequencies auctioned and conduct several rounds of ascending auctions. The starting price of the auction is set at 416 million euros per lot, and will increase by 5 million each round of betting.
The controller matches the device two limits to cap the amount of spectrum obtainable by each operator. Thus, no operator can not get more than 15 MHz. And, taking into account tenders awarded on the frequency bands 800 and 900, no operator can not hold more than 30 MHz. In other words, Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR, Numericable which already each have 20 MHz low frequency can not acquire more than 10 additional MHz each, or two blocks.
As for Free, it can not not to deadlock if all three other operators gets 10 MHz as allowed the procedure, the “troublemaker telecom” would be without frequency to 700 MHz. At the last auction for the 800 MHz band, Free had not obtained frequencies because he had not mounted his high enough and must settle for 5 MHz low frequency offers. This time, if he wants, he can acquire three blocks of 5 MHz.
- The state in search of recipes
For the state, the well-defined procedure guarantees a minimum amount for six batches of 2.5 billion euros. The frequencies, once granted, will be subject to certain conditions. Some are classics, such as national coverage obligations, departmental or rural areas. But for this tender, Arcep has innovated by adding a specific requirement to cover the daily trains: that is to say, the TER, Transilien and RER
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