The Arcep, by putting an end to the call for tenders for 5G frequencies, has just delivered the positioning of operators on the 3.5 GHz band.

Only Free will have spent 3 million euros to secure a central position in the 5G "queen band". Iliad's French subsidiary will have access to 70 MHz of frequencies on a block ranging from 3.64 GHz to 3.71 GHz.

In detail, SFR will have 80 MHz of frequencies on a block ranging from 3.49 GHz to 3.57 GHz, while the 70 MHz of frequencies held by Bouygues Telecom will be located between 3.57 GHz and 3.64 GHz. Finally, Orange, which holds the largest block of frequencies, with 90 MHz of 5G frequencies, will have a block ranging from 3.71 GHz to 3.80 GHz.

During this second phase of the auction, the operators have disbursed a total of 2.78 billion euros. Bouygues Telecom paid 602 million euros to acquire 70 MHz of frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band, as did Free, which added 3 million euros to this sum to benefit from the positioning of its choice. For its part, SFR invested 728 million euros to get its hands on 80 MHz of frequencies, while Orange spent 854 million euros to get its hands on 90 MHz of frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band.

350 million spent by each operator to purchase fixed 50 MHz blocks will be reimbursed "in 15 equal parts over 15 years, the first part upon the award of the frequency license and the other 14 parts on the anniversary date of the award".

The amounts paid by the operators during the auction and positioning phase will be repayable "in four equal parts payable over four years, the first as soon as the authorization to use the frequencies is granted and the other three on the anniversary date of the grant".

"In addition to these sums, a variable annual portion equal to 1% of the revenues generated by the operation of these frequencies will be added to these amounts," said the telecom police officer.

The frequencies will be officially delivered by the Arcep as of November 18th. But operators will still have to wait for the ANFR's approval before they can market their first 5G offers to the general public and professionals, which should take about 10 additional days.

Concerning the marketing of 5G packages, the operators have not yet made their strategies known. In any case, they will have to wait for the approval of the municipalities to officially launch the 5G era among users. If patience is therefore required, operators are already beginning the major maneuvers to lower the cost of their 5G infrastructure.

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Source : ZDNet

On the evening of the second day of the auction, the State is already assured of pocketing at least €2.65 billion for the allocation of 5G frequencies in France.

Organised by Arcep, the auction covers eleven 10 MHz blocks coveted by Bouygues Telecom (Bouygues), Orange, Free (Iliad) and SFR (Altice).

Each of the 10 MHz blocks, put up for sale at a minimum price of €70 million, reached a new price of €114 million on the evening of 30 September. It had already risen to 90 million on the first day of the auction the day before. The Arcep specifies that the process will continue on Thursday.

Having already raised 1.4 billion euros during the non-auction allocation of four 50 MHz blocks - one per operator - the amount reached by the auction guarantees 2.65 billion euros to the State for the moment. Orange is still asking for five blocks, followed by SFR and Bouygues Telecom with three blocks each, then Iliad with just two blocks.

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Source : Challenges

Following complaints about service degradation, two years ago the Arcep gave the incumbent operator formal notice to meet its commitments in 2019. While clear progress was made in 2019, the situation is less satisfactory in the first half of 2020, which is marked in particular by the health crisis. The telecoms gendarme is waiting with bated breath for the improvement promised by the incumbent operator in the second half of the year.

"The health protection measures remain in force and bring constraints during interventions that reduce the productivity of Orange's resources," Orange pleaded in a press release last July.

As a reminder, at the end of 2017, the incumbent operator was charged with providing a fixed-line telephone offer to all French citizens at an affordable price for a period of three years. It is subject to a dozen service quality indicators listed in the specifications, which include annual numerical thresholds controlled by Arcep.

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Source : 01net

This week, the Arcep unveiled its assessment of fiber optic deployments in the second quarter. And even though the milestone was reached under difficult containment conditions, half of French homes are now eligible for fiber optic cable. In fact, 1.2 million new lines were deployed between April and June. Fiber optic coverage of the territory is progressing at a "high rate", even if "the health situation related to Covid-19 has not allowed operators to continue the significant acceleration observed at the end of last year".

Despite severe restrictions due to the health crisis, work continued at a rate equivalent to that at the beginning of the year: around 400,000 lines per month. The equivalent of a town like Nemours or Granville... every day.

This dynamic allows us to calmly envisage the "five million new lines" in 2020 predicted by Minister Cédric O. If this pace is maintained for another two years, the executive will have kept its promise to bring fiber to 80% of French homes by the end of 2022.

However, the Arcep is showing its vigilance in one particular area: medium-sized cities. Indeed, in 2018 Orange and SFR made a commitment to the government and the regulator to cover them entirely with optical fiber by the end of 2020. And with 10.5 million connectable lines, they are still a long way off. Orange covers only 67% of households in the municipalities to which it has committed and SFR 75%.

In theory, they have nine months left to complete 5.5 million lines - an almost impossible task. Arcep's only concession: the deadline can be postponed by three months following the health crisis, as provided for in the government order on the extension of deadlines linked to the coronavirus. Even with this additional quarter, "the pace of deployments will be critical over the next few quarters and the Arcep will continue to be attentive to the efforts of operators", writes the Telecoms gendarme, who clearly has no intention of slackening on the subject.

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Source : Les Echos

Another thorn in the side of the digital infrastructure sector is customers' end connections to fibre optic cable. Indeed, there is growing discontent with the disruptions observed in the sharing points and the threat they pose to the sustainability of networks. Called upon to intervene more frankly, the Arcep is finally taking matters into its own hands to do something about the "noodle dishes".

At the Telconomics conference on 16th June, the Regulatory Authority said it was "extremely concerned" by the multiplication of these aberrations. To remedy this, the telecoms regulator has therefore published a "first roadmap" drawn up in consultation with the players in the sector. The objective is to give infrastructure operators the possibility to better control interventions on their networks. They will thus be able to report, or even deregister, unscrupulous subcontractors mandated by commercial operators.

Sébastien Soriano, President of the Authority, explains that the aim is to "prevent a few black sheep from destroying the highly professional work of most of the other subcontractors". A first step that will not settle all the questions, such as those of recruitment, the pricing of these interventions, or the differences in connection technologies between infrastructure operators and access providers.

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Source : DegroupNews

The telecoms regulator has published a new timetable for the continuation of the 5G frequency allocation procedure in the 3.5 GHz band. It will therefore be between September 20th and 30th.  Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR, which qualified last February following a call for applications, will participate.

At the end of the procedure, they will each obtain a 50 GHz block in return for 350 million euros per head and a number of deployment obligations. In early autumn, the main auction will allow them to complete this first block by winning one or more 10 GHz blocks. This will be followed by an auction to position the resulting frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz section. The Arcep indicates that the final allocation of frequencies will take place "in October or November". Operators will thus be able to market their future 5G packages "by the end of the year".

However, in the end, operators will not be obliged to provide 5G coverage in at least two major cities before the end of 2020. The delay in the procedure has led the telecoms police to lift this obligation accompanying the first 50GHz block. The marketing will be done "at the initiative of the operators" even if the Arcep promises to remain attentive to the conditions of marketing of the new network and the promises of the operators.

The first obligation will therefore be to deploy 5G on at least 3,000 of their sites by the end of 2022. Operators will also have to distilled at least 240 Mb/s on 75 % of their sites into 4G+ by the same deadline.

This is a reminder that the specifications have been drawn up so that the deployment of 5G and 4G coverage of territories go hand in hand. It is also a response to Bouygues Telecom and SFR, who recently balanced the deployment of the 5th generation network against the need to improve 4G coverage in rural areas.

At the same time, Arcep also intends to respond to growing concerns about the environmental impact of digital technology. Within the framework of a new platform called "for a sustainable digital environment", "associations, institutions, operators, digital companies, personalities" are invited to contribute to it during a series of thematic workshops starting on July 9th.

A report by the end of the year will provide an opportunity to take stock of this work and will propose the "first avenues for taking the response to environmental issues further", which the Authority intends to make a "new chapter in regulation".

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Source : DegroupNews

To estimate the number of premises to be connected to fibre optics in France, the Arcep has hitherto relied on INSEE data. However, a few days ago, the contours became clearer with the integration into its data of the IPE (Information Préalable Enrichée) files from the operators. This information has long been requested by the Association of Local Authorities for the Digital Economy (Avicca) and which it hastened to examine.

The result: of the 9,000 municipalities for which the IPE files are now authentic, the number of premises is much higher than previously estimated. In particular in the AMII zone, a notorious casus belli between the operators who deploy there and Avicca. Avicca counted "1.82 million premises not accounted for" in the old reference system, which was set at around 13.5 million. Orange and SFR made binding commitments to the government on this basis. By this yardstick, "objectives that already seemed unattainable - even before the current health crisis - now seem unrealistic," comments Avicca.

In order to take into account the strong disruptions caused by the health crisis, the association is calling for a "freeze" on the timetable, but "Covid-19 could not be held solely responsible for all the delays that Avicca and Arcep have been measuring for years", it continues. Already heard this week from the regulator's side, this speech is making the operators get off their hinges.

In the other zones, the additional premises are more limited. The association calculates 300,000 homes and other establishments more than expected in very dense areas, and nearly 500,000 in areas of public initiative. Enough to encourage the members of the association dependent on RIP to be "vigilant", concludes Avicca.

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Source : DegroupNews

Sébastien Soriano, the president of Arcep, was heard on the issue of network deployment by the Senate commission on regional planning and sustainable development. The latter sent him a "strong request" to maintain the schedules, even in the current context, and urged the regulator to "exercise its power of control and sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the objectives assigned to them".

Adjustments will no doubt be necessary, but the commission points out that "the current crisis also reveals the flaws of our digital society", since "part of our population is now disconnected as well as being confined".

The two major projects currently underway are the France Very High Speed Internet plan for the deployment of fibre optics and the New Deal Mobile to accelerate 4G deployment.

Even if a shift in the timetable is likely, the Senate committee calls for the Arcep to be firm in its consideration of requests for extensions to deadlines in order "not to accept any delay justified by the crisis". It also asks operators to make a financial effort "in the direction of lower-ranking companies" to support the sector and avoid its disorganisation.

For his part, the president of the Arcep indicated that the risks of network saturation were under control thanks to the measures taken by operators and the empowerment of consumers and video content providers. However, this aspect will have to be developed after the crisis, even if it means introducing a "derogation proportionate to the neutrality of the Web".

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Source : Génération NT

As part of the France Très Haut Débit plan, the operator in the red square has undertaken to cover around 20% of medium-density fibre territories, compared with 80% for Orange. They are, however, obliged to open up these networks to other operators at "reasonable prices" under the Arcep.
However, SFR has recently decided to increase its tariffs and the move has irritated Bouygues Telecom's staff.

Bouygues Telecom, like other operators, considers that the rates charged by SFR are no longer "reasonable". So much so that Martin Bouygues' operator formally filed a request for dispute settlement with Arcep more than two months ago. In detail, SFR's so-called "co-financing" tariff has been increased from EUR 5.32 to EUR 5.80 per line per month as of 1 February. The rental price for a single line rose from EUR 16.40 to EUR 16.73 per month.

SFR was already more expensive than Orange before its price increase. These prices are all the more unjustified since connecting to the network of the operator with the red square is, for technical reasons, more expensive than at Orange. Some argue that SFR's strategy is designed to discourage its rivals from offering competing fibre offers in the medium-density area.

This risk was recently mentioned by the chairman of Arcep, Sébastien Soriano: "Today, in private areas, Arcep is working on a project in progress, since one of the major operators deploying fibre has pricing practices that raise questions. I mean that we are working on it. The Arcep will not leave any stowaways in the system. It will not let a player take advantage of the situation to charge higher prices by having established a private monopoly. You can count on the Arcep to dot the i's on that."

A good connoisseur of the sector, however, tempers criticism of SFR. On the one hand, he argues that Patrick Drahi's operator has a higher cost base than Orange. On the other hand, he wonders why Bouygues Telecom only applies to Arcep today, when the rental price of SFR's line has remained stable since 2012. He also believes that Bouygues Telecom could also have chosen to co-invest, at least in part, with SFR, instead of resorting solely to the rental of single lines. In any event, it is now up to the regulator to arbitrate.

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Source : La Tribune

Even though its network had not yet been built, Free Mobile was able to play a real role as the fourth largest telecoms operator on the French market as soon as it arrived in 2012. How did this happen? Thanks to the 2G / 3G roaming agreement negotiated with Orange.

An agreement validated by the Arcep on the condition that it is only temporary. Roaming between Orange and Free was therefore scheduled to end at the end of 2020 but both operators have just requested an extension until the end of 2022.

On February 24th, the Arcep indicated that it had received an amendment announcing an extension until December 31, 2022. This amendment is justified by "the impossibility for Free Mobile to catch up with the market coverage standard which has increased significantly with the Crozon mutualisation agreement and the New Deal obligations despite a very proactive deployment".

Free also points to the need for 2G coverage in order to maintain a certain number of subscribers in 2G but without having the resources to deploy a network. In addition, the other operators maintain 2G as a "fallback technology in certain situations, particularly indoors at peak times".

This news is not going to be well received by Bouygues Telecom and SFR. Indeed, they have constantly denounced the roaming agreement between their competitors, considering it to be a competitive advantage for Free.

SFR's representatives are already castigating Free's decision to distribute dividends and to try to prolong the agreement instead of investing in its networks.

SFR and Bouygues Telecom have announced the suspension of the payment of dividends, but this is also in order to benefit from government aid linked to the short-time working of some of the staff.

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Source : Génération NT

The names of the operators who will participate in the allocation of the first frequencies dedicated to 5G were unveiled by Arcep on 26 February. Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free have therefore applied. The four major national operators will compete in an auction, scheduled to start in mid-April, to win back as many frequencies as possible. And the stakes are high: those who win the most spectrum will be able to offer a better service than the others.

For the Arcep, the fact that the four major operators have responded is a source of satisfaction. For the president of the institution, Sébastien Soriano, it proves that the conditions of this sale "are reasonable". Even if some operators have shouted the opposite in recent months, believing that the government was financially too greedy. They also felt that the spectrum came with obligations to cover the territory - especially rural areas, which are much less profitable than cities - too large and costly.

No other telecom players applied for 5G, including the large MVNOs. The same is true for industrialists in different sectors. It must be said that the allocation requires the purchase of a minimum of 40 MHz of frequencies. This measure, which aims "to avoid the fragmentation of the spectrum" explains Sébastien Soriano, has de facto "set the bar a little high" for industrialists.

Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free, provided they comply with the required commitments, should each recover a block of 50 MHz at a fixed price of 350 million euros. 350 million. A battle will follow for the remaining 110 MHz, which will be auctioned in blocks of 10 MHz, but no operator will be able to win more than 100 MHz of spectrum in total.

The Arcep is due to determine in the coming weeks how the auctions will be conducted. Several modalities are still to be worked out.

It should be noted that during the auctions, operators will not be allowed to discuss and agree on certain common strategies among themselves, which would distort competition. If there is no change in the agenda, the regulator expects the frequencies to be allocated in June. Operators will then be able to start rolling out 5G in early summer, in July.

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Source : La Tribune

This time, let's do it! Operators who wish to launch into 5G can now apply to the Arcep for frequencies in the 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band. Operators must apply before 12 noon on February 25th 2020.

The regulatory authority will examine the applications and issue authorisations during the first half of 2020. It is expected that the four operators - Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile - will be successful at the end of the award procedure.

As resources are limited, the real question is how many frequencies each applicant will have.

A mixed allocation system has been planned: the frequencies are divided into fixed-price lots and variable-price lots, which will be determined by auction. The fixed-price lots each contain a 50 MHz block, while the variable-price lots consist of a 10 MHz block. An operator must apply for at least 40 MHz and is not allowed to have more than 100 MHz.

Fixed price blocks are sold for EUR 350 million each. The others start at EUR 70 million.

However, the government does not intend to squeeze the candidates and a certain flexibility in the purchase of frequencies is thus provided for: the 10 MHz blocks can be paid for over 4 years and the 50 MHz blocks over 15 years - this is the duration of the allocation of frequencies. This is the duration of the frequency allocation, which may be extended if necessary.

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Source : Numerama

In early June, AOTA, the Association of Alternative Telecommunications Operators, called on the government to "address the transition to IPv6 and the preservation of the competitive balance".

The Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE) has just replied: "the transition to this new communication protocol now appears to be a major challenge for competitiveness and innovation". However, it states that "the government's capacity to act in this area is limited by the lack of a legislative basis to regulate this type of resource, as IP addresses are managed at the international level by ICANN and allocated directly at the European level by the European Internet registry, the Amsterdam-based RIPE NCC".

To find a solution, "the French authorities will propose to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union that it put the issue of the transition to IPv6 on the agenda of a working group of the Telecommunications and Information Society Council and that it refer the matter to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for its opinion".

Despite a "timid response", the AOTA welcomes the fact that the State is taking the issue seriously. The Chief Electoral Officer also points out that the Arcep can play a supporting role in facilitating the transition to IPv6, and that a "task force" will soon be set up by the Arcep on this subject".

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Source : Next Inpact

Free had been involved for several years in co-financing the FTTH networks deployed by Orange and was challenging several terms of its contract with the incumbent operator. The Regulatory Authority had settled this dispute in Free's favour, but Orange had been challenging the legality of the dispute since then. The Paris Court of Appeal upheld Arcep's decision in an order dated 26th September 2019.

The planned renewal of the term and conditions of access to Orange's infrastructure was contested by Free. Arcep confirmed that they did not meet Free's needs for visibility and transparency and therefore imposed on Orange to grant a right of access for a defined period of time and at least 40 years. In its decision, the Court of Appeal confirmed that these conditions are "not sufficiently precise in view of Free's need for visibility over the effective duration of this right".

In addition, Arcep considered that it was justified and reasonable for Free to obtain information on the formation of access tariffs for Orange FTTH networks in less dense private initiative areas. This was also supported by the Court of Appeal, which stated that these tariffs were "directly linked to the financial terms of the bid, which it seeks to ensure is fair".

Finally, the Regulatory Authority considered that the incumbent operator should allow Free to connect mobile base stations in less dense areas of private initiative via the extra optical fibres of the FTTH network deployed by Orange and co-financed by Free. A point that has not been contested by Orange in its appeal.

In addition, the Paris Court of Appeal held that the decision did not affect business confidentiality and confirmed Arcep's analysis. And noting that the information that Orange must provide to Free pursuant to the decision "is characterized by a very high degree of aggregation, both geographically and by expense items".

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Source : Le Monde Informatique

On October 7th, Arcep announced the first projects selected to use the 26 GHz frequency band. Called "millimetre band", according to the regulator, this band represents "an extremely localized capacitive contribution for very high speed mobile networks in very dense areas, mainly in urban or suburban areas, in specific locations (ports, factories...) or inside buildings".

The regulator and the government issued a call for projects in January 2019 to identify the uses of 5G in this frequency band. In total, 11 projects have been validated by the authorities to test 5G on the 26 GHz band for 3 years. Sébastien Soriano explains "the fundamental challenge is the Internet of things, an almost infinite universe is opening up to us".

Heterogeneous proposals:

• the major seaport of Le Havre is seeking to develop the port city of tomorrow.
• Bordeaux Metropole will use the 5G to manage the connected streetlights and thus ensure intelligent energy management within the municipalities concerned.
• With a view to the 2024 Olympic Games, the Saint-Quentin en Yvelines national velodrome will be able to test 5G for the media.
• SNCF will be able to observe the benefits of 5G in Rennes station with different cases of use affecting both users and SNCF agents.

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Source : Le Monde Informatique