Four bidders for French 5G spectrum
February 27, 2020
By Colin Mann
French telcos Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR have all submitted a tender package to comms regulator Arcep for the award of licences to use frequencies in the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band in Metropolitan France
All four candidates have stipulated their desire to obtain one of the four blocks of 50 MHz that will be awarded in exchange for the commitments set forth in the procedure.
Companies that did not submit a bid package will not be able to participate in the award procedure for the blocks of 50 MHz, nor in the procedure for allocating the frequencies that remain available after this first stage.
Arcep will now examine the candidates’ tender packages. It will ensure that they comply with the procedure’s eligibility and qualification criteria, then draw up the list of qualified candidates for the first stage of the process, dedicated to awarding the blocks of 50 MHz. Once this examination is complete, Arcep will publish the list of the candidates that are eligible to participate in the spectrum auctions, along with the results of the 50 MHz block allocation stage.
The frequencies that remain available after this first stage, dedicated to awarding the blocks of 50 MHz, will then be awarded through a financial bid auction that will take place in April, so that the licences can be awarded in June 2020 at the latest.