French Industry Minister Lays Out 4G Spectrum Auction Detail
May 16 2011 - 9:44AM
Dow Jones News
French Industry Minister Eric Besson Monday set out the details
of France's upcoming fourth-generation mobile spectrum auction,
which should raise at least EUR2.5 billion for the government and
shape the competitive landscape in Europe's third-largest telecoms
market.
The government has set the minimum price for the frequencies,
which will be divided into different lots, at EUR2.5 billion,
Besson said in a speech during a visit to an Alcatel-Lucent SA
(ALU) research lab outside of Paris. "...The strategic asset that
these frequencies represent won't be sold on the cheap," Besson
said, confirming earlier media reports.
France is currently finalizing the long-awaited auction process
of the 4G spectrum, which should be launched at the end of the
month, Besson said.
For operators it is crucial to get a share of the spectrum to be
able cope with the rapid surge of data traffic on the web. The 4G
frequencies will allow operators to upgrade their networks so that
consumers can surf the Internet and download videos onto their
mobile phones at high speeds, an increasingly important selling
point for telecoms operators.
Once the tender offer is officially launched, operators have
until September to file their bids and the government has set
limits on how much spectrum one operator alone can bid for.
-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1754;
ruth.bender@dowjones.com
(Max Colchester from the Wall Street Journal contributed to this
article.)