The auction framework for obtaining 5G frequencies has just been formalised by the Government. This framework letter, signed by the Minister for Cohesion of the Territories and the Secretary of State to the Minister of Economy, should enable Arcep to develop the process.


This letter defines in particular the constraints that will weigh on the winning operators. On the one hand, on the wallet side: it is a question of finding a "balance" between making the State's frequency assets grow and preserving the operators' capacity to invest in infrastructure. While both departments agree that "valuation should leave room for network development", they ask that "price is a substantial criterion for allocations".

On the other hand, on the coverage side: the Government warns that "the commercial service will have to be launched from 2020 to cover several cities" in return for the 5G licences awarded.

However, 5G deployment obligations will not be as stringent as those imposed to extend 4G last year throughout the country.


As for companies, the Arcep will have to "ensure that the operators who will benefit from authorisation will enable vertical players to apply for and benefit from 5G services under financial and operational conditions adapted to their needs, including in sparsely populated areas of the territory".

The Government has set the bar high by asking for the best of both worlds. It remains for the Arcep to include all this in the specifications of the 5G auctions scheduled for next autumn.

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Source : DegroupNews

In an interview with the Opinion, the President of the French Telecommunications Regulatory Authority gave an update on the upcoming arrival of 5G, the audiovisual law and the need to modernise European competition law.

For Sébastien Soriano, manufacturers will be at the heart of the 5G award even if they will not be part of the licensing process. Indeed, it is "all the actors of the economy who will in the future be users of networks linked to the Internet of Things (IoT)". But it is up to the Telecom sector to enable this evolution. "Today, operators are focused on standard offers. Their core business is the consumer market, not the corporate market, and the future is certainly there". Especially since companies do not yet seem ready for this frequency. "Last year, the Arcep offered them the possibility of making pilots in 5G, without much success. In the short term, it is therefore not a bad thing to reserve 5G for major telecom operators. Our bet is that they will change the way they work and make tailor-made solutions to meet the needs of companies. They didn't do it with 4G, which is what many large groups complain about". It is possible to imagine that 5G licences could be granted to telecoms operators in return for obligations or commitments to improve their offers to companies. "Tomorrow the Arcep could become an arbitrator in charge of settling disputes between operators and their customers concerning the relevance of the offers of the former to the demands of the latter". Contrary to popular belief, France is not falling behind in 5G. This one is still planned for next year. "The government is in the process of completing its scoping letter. For our part, we will put our draft procedure, including the operator-business relationship, out for consultation at the end of May/beginning of June. By the end of the year, operators will know how many 5G frequencies they each have, their costs and the obligations attached to them".

According to him, the audiovisual sector, in the midst of a transition, will probably no longer control its distribution network in the long term. Just like the car of tomorrow, the television set could be transformed into a voice assistant. "The audiovisual sector must be able to access the 5G services of telecom operators, such as SNCF or Carrefour, and we can even imagine an appropriate obligation for this specific sector and everything related to culture and pluralism [...] All companies must have access to these infrastructures and of course the audiovisual sector. In addition, I think that this would allow this sector to deal more calmly with the question of the future of DTT if it has access to 5G". Having defended the operators in their conflict with TF1 last year, he believes that "it is the big chains that manage to extract value from these negotiations, which raises a question about pluralism. The audiovisual law could provide a framework where we are currently in a purely commercial negotiation. I am confident that the law will provide a framework with flexible, non-discriminatory, reasonable and cost-reflective rules".

Regarding a possible consolidation of Telecom in France, the President of the Arcep is firm. "There is no news on this subject. Arcep's priority is investment [...] We have reached a model in which prices are attractive to the customer and investment capacity is high: these expenses have increased by 37% in three years, to nearly 10 billion euros annually. Why change a model that works? " However, Mr. Soriano considers that this is not enough to resist the Gafa and the takeover of new intermediaries. "In the long run, the end customer may no longer have to deal with the telecom operator. The latter would become a simple supplier of commodities to smartphone manufacturers, who would then take over margins and customer relations. [...] This is a global risk and an additional reason to focus on terminal regulation". For him, competition law could solve this problem provided that it "is part of a clear vision of the economy and globalization. For this to happen, competition law must be adapted to the economy of the 21st century. Today, in a growing number of sectors, the challenge is to concentrate the strike force (market share, data, R&D, rare talents, etc.) to increase scale effects. To meet this challenge, European competition law must be more concerned with innovation". According to the interviewee, there are two possibilities: to make access to structuring innovation platforms non-discriminatory and to ensure that they are openly accessible to the European ecosystem. "The second challenge is to create scale effects to participate in global competition. ...] In a targeted way, competition law must make it possible to find a compromise on these technological and innovation issues".

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Source : L'Opinion

In order to launch the new generation of mobile networks, operators must be allocated frequencies by the end of the year. The first 5G antennas will thus be able to flourish and the flow rates will explode as early as 2020.

Across Europe, the 5G flagship band is the one between 3.4 GHz and 3.8 GHz - 400 MHz theoretically available to operators to water their customers with high-speed Internet.

The only problem is that, in France, this strip is already partially occupied by tenants who have no desire to empty the premises before the end of their lease in 2026. Among these cumbersome tenants are the Wimax licensees. This radio technology from the early 2000s was intended to provide broadband in rural areas through dedicated radio antennas.

A household is required and concerns two actors who are seated on 30MHz each: Bolloré Télécom (now Wifirst) throughout France and SFR in Ile-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Arcep cannot therefore revoke their rights of use, even though frequencies are crucial for 5G. And Bolloré knows it. He is ideally placed today to recover. All he has to do is wait. The manufacturer can sit on it until 2026, use it himself to make 5G or even rent these frequencies to a third party.

But to make matters worse, the Arcep cut the 5G gang again a few months ago. The Telecom Constable has dedicated 50 MHz of his 400 MHz stock to "THD Radio" as part of the government plan to provide Very High Speed Internet access to all French people by 2022. And this until 2026.

On the Arcep side, it is stated that "there are no difficulties". Embarrassed, however, the regulator explained to Les Echos last summer that there could well be "only" 280 MHz of spectrum to auction... 30% less than the 400 MHz identified by Europe. Since the Authority has been studying its options, but nothing is moving.

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Source : Les Echos.fr