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

Launched on September 16, Wi-Fi 6 will become widespread in the Telecom sector. Indeed, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance, more than 1.6 billion devices will offer it by the end of 2020. "This is the first time in the history of Wi-Fi that we're going to see so much progress. The impact of Wi-Fi often goes unnoticed. Yet even international trade depends on it! Wi-Fi 6 is there, it's a reality, companies deliver their products," enthuses Kevin Robinson, Wifi-Alliance's Vice President of Marketing.

The next mobile phone standard, 5G, is planned for 2020 in France. Telecoms operators will first have to buy the valuable licenses this fall. However, using free frequencies, Wi-Fi 6 was able to arrive this summer in France.

This version 6 has many advantages. It allows dozens of devices to be connected simultaneously. "Today, in an average family of four people, there are at least four phones on the same Wi-Fi, not to mention business smartphones, tablets, one or more PCs, a connected TV... We see that the number of devices per household is increasing faster than the speed consumed," explains Christian Gacon, director of fixed networks at Orange Labs.

But 5G should not relieve the problem. 5G uses high frequency bands, compared to 4G, which allow broadcasting further away but penetrate less well inside buildings. For this reason, 5G will be used mainly outdoors and Wi-Fi 6 indoors. "These are two complementary technologies. For example, Wi-Fi 6 will not allow the development of autonomous cars!" says Kevin Robinson. In the industrial world, 5G will therefore be essential for uses requiring very low latency and long range. Wi-Fi 6 is more suitable for short-range uses.

But others are more measured. "Wi-Fi 5 is already very powerful and will support the next ten years. Wi-Fi 6 is for the next twenty years. It brings an improvement... From my point of view, the real breakthrough came with Wi-Fi 5," says Marc Taieb, president and founder of Wifirst.

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Source : Les Echos

In the fight expected from operators for the acquisition of frequencies dedicated to 5G, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts is preparing to open a new front. Indeed, last weekend Arcep reported that it had set 31 December 2022 as the maximum deadline for frequencies in the 1.5 GHz band, known as the L band.

"Today used for point-to-point links for the collection of mobile networks open to the public and professionals and by the Ministries of the Interior and Defence", its release by the end of 2022 should allow mobile operators to have more frequencies to deploy future 5G and Very High Speed networks.

"The 1.5 GHz band has been subject to European harmonisation since 2015. It has 90 MHz that can be used to meet downlink requirements. The propagation properties of these frequencies are particularly interesting for the coverage of the territory and the coverage inside buildings", said the Telecom Constable.

However, there could be many pitfalls.... Indeed, the current tenants of the band have already sent comments to the Authority during the consultation period: a disputed reallocation plan, potentially huge migration costs.

However, the decision is widely welcomed by operators who are pleased to be able to obtain new frequency blocks for the development of their future 5G networks. While the latter accept that this L-band will only be operated "for additional exclusively downlink links (in SDL mode)", it will still improve the throughput and capacity of downlinks below 1 GHz.

The spectrum available for the deployment of future 5G networks is relatively limited, so this release should be of significant interest to operators, particularly in the event of coupling with other frequency bands.

Operators are also unanimous that the entire band will not be able to operate effectively due to unfavourable neighbourhood conditions. On its adjacent bands, there are "space exploration satellite services, radio astronomy and space research services", which do not allow the use of both ends of the 1.5 GHz band. Orange has only one 85 MHz band that can be used, while Free goes further with only one 40 MHz band. For the operator, this block of frequencies constitutes "the only sub-band with a mature ecosystem today" and could even be the subject of an "immediate allocation scenario" via a reallocation of 10 MHz bands to each operator.

A scenario that will not be retained by Arcep but which illustrates the operators' appetite for this band, to the great displeasure of its current tenants. They should be required to be housed elsewhere, particularly in the 6 GHz band.

Most of these actors are industrialists and express doubts about the Arcep's decision and its implications for their own activities and finances. Questions about the economic viability of this migration on the part of EDF, for example, for whom "the estimated time required to replace 1.4 GHz links, without significantly impacting the company's performance, is around ten years".

Especially since the timetable imposed by the telecoms police officer is already causing the actors concerned to shudder. For Enedis, the deadlines proposed jointly by Brussels and Arcep "do not take into account this specific framework for the use of the 1.4 GHz band by Enedis, nor the current limits or the constraints imposed by the alternative solutions". And even one of the alternatives proposed by Arcep would involve the reconstruction of a large part of its network.

The public authorities also seem to be waiting, as does the Ministry of Transport, for whom the timetable mentioned cannot be kept. Hence the Ministry's request to maintain the current network "at least until 2027, knowing that if studies show that it is possible to have the future network available earlier, the network can be shut down before that date".

Current tenants propose other solutions such as the establishment of a "cohabitation context". This would allow L-band frequencies to be allocated to operators in dense urban areas and other actors to "continue to use Radio Beams in rural areas, which are less likely to be targeted by the need for SDL".

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Source : ZDNet

As part of the 5G frequency allocation, scheduled for autumn 2019, the Arcep is continuing its work to free the 3.5 GHz band. This band has been made available to digital development players to deploy Very High Speed Radio networks. In order to identify the departments in which THD radio networks are still being considered, the Arcep is launching a public consultation.

To meet the territories' HSBB connectivity needs in the context of the France Very High Speed Plan, Arcep opened a window in December 2017 for the deployment of HSBB radio networks in the 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band. In parallel, the government and the Arcep have established to allocate new 5G frequencies in order to be launched in 2020. The Regulatory Authority must therefore allocate the 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band for the commercial deployment of 5G mobile networks.

At the end of 2018, Arcep planned to submit the applications to the THD radio counter before the end of March 2019. However, in order to free as many frequencies as possible for 5G while maintaining frequencies for THD radio networks, Arcep plans to maintain the counter for departments in which advanced projects exist. The opening of the window for these projects could be extended beyond 31 December 2019.

It is now up to Arcep to determine the territories where THD radio networks should be deployed. The purpose of this public consultation is to enable the stakeholders concerned to inform the Regulatory Authority of their project before 30 June 2019.

At the end of this consultation and taking into account the responses, the Arcep will modify the frequency allocation modalities for radio HSBB in order to integrate these calendar changes.

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Source : Arcep

During the Viva Tech exhibition, Cisco explains to the Digital Factory the "5G rural first" project carried out in the United Kingdom. Led by the American company, this consortium of 29 players aims to find a business model to deploy 5G in rural areas and enable operators to make it profitable.

"To start investing in 5G, it is not possible to rely on the consumer demand of the general public, a large part of which is connected in 4G. 5G investments are very important and people are not willing to pay more for their subscriptions", says Cisco's director of innovation, Guillaume de Saint Marc. It has to be said that we must therefore turn to BtoB and rely on the digitalization of the various industrial sectors.

The principle is to multiply the pilots and experiments with 5G, 4G or WiFi. To this end, four industrial sectors, developed outside cities, were explored: AgriTech, transport, energy and tourism.

The fields of energy and tourism have been explored in the north of Scotland. On the tourism side, ferries were connected throughout their journeys, allowing connectivity to all passengers and a constant link between ferries and captains.

On the energy side, this territory has three offshore wind farms. It is necessary to connect them in order to "anticipate and understand the production level at a given moment and be able to absorb the energy produced by these wind turbines in real time", explains Guillaume de Saint Marc.

In the agricultural sector, the start-up Afimilk offers connected collars to monitor the temperature, rumination cycle, heart rate of cows...

In parallel, a project to identify soil quality by drone was carried out. "This is not new, but 5G is accelerating the deployment of these technologies", said Cisco's Director of Innovation.

But that's not all, since there are many uses: connect a salmon farm, monitor the water in some schools to detect legionella, test broadcast via 5G.  The aim is always to minimize the cost of its development by multiplying these uses.

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Source : L'Usine Digitale

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

Arcep has opened a window to allow local authorities to obtain THD radio frequencies and thus deploy this technology on their territories. The challenge is to be able to offer very high speed (minimum 30 Mb/s) to households with the lowest ADSL coverage and promised a late arrival of optical fibre. According to InfraNum, some 2.2 million households will be affected by 2022.


But here we are, only a handful of local authorities have obtained or requested dedicated frequencies. Indeed, the Federation reports a "deployment of the THD radio [...] under study or confirmed for nearly 40 departments" and notes that to date a "dozen departments" have not initiated any action.


InfraNum therefore sounds the alarm and asks Arcep to extend the opening of the THD radio counter by one year. The objective is to have more time to convince these communities to opt for a wireless solution. If other solutions exist, such as 4G setting up major national operators, the Federation warns that it will "not support, in addition, specific domestic or professional uses". And the prospect of a fixed 5G service is no more to be considered "waiting for its arrival to meet an immediate need for very high fixed broadband in rural areas is a decoy" warns Etienne Dugas, President of InfraNum....

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Source : DegroupNews