Iliad

French operators trigger legal action over fourth 3G licence

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:15:41 -0400

Having complained loudly from the sidelines, Bouygues Telecom has become the first French mobile operator to step forward and issue a legal challenge to how the country's fourth 3G licence is being sold. The company has filed complaints just days before the 29^th October deadline for the filing of licence applications with the national regulator Arcep.

A Bouygues Telecom spokesman stated: "We have filed two complaints to contest the legality of the decree which fixed the price and the decree which launched the tender offer for the licence under the conditions set by Arcep."

Vivendi, the major shareholder in SFR, and France Telecom Orange have both stated their intentions to submit separate complaints to the European Commission about the €240 million price being asked for the 3G mobile licence.

The issue revolves around the current asking price of €240 million against the €619 million that the three 3G operators originally paid for their licences, with the complaint that the French government would effectively be providing state aid to the fourth operator relative to the other three licence holders.

So far, the ISP Iliad is the only confirmed candidate, although other late bids are expected.

For more on this story:
Total Telecom

Orange to protest pricing of new French 3G licence

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:44:11 -0400

France Telecom Orange plans to lodge a complaint with the EU over its annoyance that the French government plans to offer a fourth 3G licence for around a third of the amount which it had to pay in 2001. The company said that it would strongly contest the licence fee of €240 million, claiming that the French government was effectively providing state aid to the fourth operator compared to the other three holders of 3G licences.

Regardless of this truculent approach, the French telecoms regulator, Arcep, said that the deadline for applications would remain set at 29^th October 2009, with the licence being awarded around eight months afterwards.

Arcep said that it would judge the applications based upon nine criteria, but with prominence placed upon the bidder providing 3G coverage for 25 per cent of the population after two years and 80 per cent after eight. The winner will also be measured on its business plan and the ability to support a full network rollout, estimated to require a capex of €1 billion.

Iliad, the parent company of French ISP Free, has confirmed that it would be a candidate for the licence, albeit that a previous bid for the licence by the company was rejected by Arcep in October 2007. Virgin Mobile France has previously suggested that it might be interested in the licence as a joint venture with Numericable, and Egypt's Orascom Telecom recently said it would consider joining a consortium to bid for the licence. Most observers believe that Iliad is the only company able to meet Arcep's requirements for a fourth 3G licence in France.

For more on this story:
Telegeography and Cellular News

Virgin Mobile taunts market with French 3G licence bid

Paul Rasmussen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:17:44 -0400

Maybe we will, maybe we won't, is the message coming from Virgin Mobile France as to whether it will enter the bidding for the fourth French 3G mobile phone licence. The company said it was still in negotiations with various potential partners about making a bid, but admitted the suggested price for the licence of €240 million "seemed fair and relevant."

Interestingly, the company's secretary general, Philippe Maugest, seemed to drop a heavy hint that network sharing was key to any decision about making an offer for the 3G licence. "A new entrant must have the opportunity to deploy a new mobile network under economically viable terms," was how Maugest described the matter.

Given that the French regulator ARCEP is expected to award the licence in January 2010, the interested bidders must decide on any partnership within the next few months.

Virgin Mobile confirmed it is in talks with the cable operator Numericable--which already operates as an MVNO in France--and competes with Iliad in the provision of broadband, television, and fixed-line phone services. Iliad is the only firm to have officially lodged an interest in bidding for the 3G licence.

Numericable failed to clarify the situation by confirming it was considering several bidding options for the 3G licence, and that an alliance with Virgin Mobile was one possibility under review.

The existing 3G operators--Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom--who paid €619 million in 2001 and 2002 for their 3G frequencies, have made plain their objections to the much reduced price for this fourth licence, and are keen to delay or halt the arrival of a fourth player.

For more on this story:
Reuters and WSJ

French raise stakes for fourth licence auction

Ian Channing — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:44:47 -0400

Media reports in France suggest the French Government will be looking for a higher price than previously announced when it comes to the auction for the country's fourth 3G licence. Initially the Government were looking for EUR206 million for the licence but apparently the French shareholding agency CPT has proposed this figure be increased to EUR240 million.

This is the latest development in the long running saga of the French Government's attempts to issue a fourth mobile licence. Earlier this year it abandoned efforts to allocate the spectrum in a single block to one licensee, at a price of EUR619 million, when no-one showed any interest. Now the spectrum is to be allocated in three separate blocks, with the bidding process expected to start towards the end of July. So far, only one company has expressed interest in the fourth licence, French ISP Iliad, which has indicated it is only prepared to pay EUR210 million for the licence. Virgin Mobile is rumoured to be interested in acquiring the licence but has not, so far, declared its intentions.

The three existing French mobile operators, Orange, SFR and Bouygues, have already expressed their dissatisfaction over the proposed licence price having paid EUR619 million each for their licences in 2001/2002.

For more on this story:
- go to Total Telecom and Telegeography

Iliad's campaign for French 3G licence heats up

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:25:23 -0400

In an effort to persuade the French government to award it a 3G licence next month, the country's second-largest ISP, Iliad, has promised strong growth in free cash flow to fund its competitive challenge to France Telecom. The company claims it will generate €300 million in free cash flow in 2009, up from €210 million last year, giving it the necessary financial clout to invest in a 3G cell phone business and the costly roll-out of a fibre optic network.

Iliad, the only declared bidder for France's fourth mobile phone licence, has accused France Telecom (FT) of being a "repeat offender" in attempting to block competition, and lodged a complaint, along with Vivendi, to the European Commission about FT's allegedly anti-competitive practices.

While Iliad has a history of technical and market innovation, industry observers have questioned the company's ability to invest €1 billion in a new fibre network over the next three years while paying for a new mobile infrastructure, assuming Iliad wins the licence. The new fibre network is considered essential to reduce its use of FT's costly backhaul infrastructure.

For more on this story:
Telegeography and Financial Times

French 3G licences: The never-ending story

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:35:28 -0500

Following the collapse late last year of its efforts to award a fourth 3G licence, the French government has decided on a new approach. Rather than giving out a new full licence, the French have decided to split the spectrum block it intended issuing into three tranches of 15MHz, one of which will be reserved for a new operator. The tender process for the spectrum blocks will take place in February with the actual allocations being made at the end of the year.

The previous 3G licence process failed when French telecom regulator ARCEP rejected the application from the only bidder, Iliad, on the grounds that it had failed to meet the laid-down financial conditions. Iliad said at the time that it was still interested in acquiring a 3G licence and presumably will be considering pitching for the new operator's spectrum allocation. Another possible new entrant is French alternative operator Neuf Cegetel. As there are no limitations on who can bid for the other two blocks, the existing French 3G operators are likely to show interest, which could drive up the bidding. What the spectrum allocations are worth is anyone's guess; the existing operators paid 619 million Euros for their current 3G spectrum.

ARCEP has also announced a public consultation on the application procedures to be followed for the allocation of the 2.6GHz frequency band and for the spectrum released by the digital dividend.

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News

Related articles:
New French 3G licence designed to trigger competition
Rumour mill: 4th French 3G licence shelved

New French 3G licence designed to trigger competition

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:40:20 -0400

Lack of competition in the French cell phone market has prompted the telecoms regulator ARCEP to recommend that a new 3G licence should be awarded in a public tender. However, ARCEP failed to specify if it would award all the available frequencies to one bidder or divide the available spectrum into several bundles, some of which could then be earmarked for new entrants.

Leaving the door open to further political lobbying, the French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, said she had received the recommendations and would be discussing the issue with other relevant ministers prior to submitting their observations to parliament at some future date.

Following public consultation conducted earlier this year by ARCEP, the idea that the available 3G spectrum could be bundled into packages open to existing operators was rejected unanimously. This essentially leaves the French broadband provider Iliad (which tendered a low offer last year) as the most likely bidder for a 3G licence. In the past ARCEP has rejected Iliad's applications for failing to stand up to financial scrutiny, although with this latest recommendation the regulator has failed to provide any details of the financial criteria required of interested parties.

"We are looking at procedures that give priority to all or part of the frequencies to a newcomer, following similar conditions that governed the previous tenders," said an ARCEP spokesman.

For more on this story:
- go to EasyBourse and ITPro

Related articles:
Rumour mill: 4th French 3G licence shelved. Licence story
French operators play politics to stop 4th UMTS licence. French operator story

Rumour Mill: Will Google finance French WiMAX deployment?

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:03:24 -0400

Strenuous denials have come from all those said to be involved in deploying a nationwide WiMAX network in France. The suggested joint venture, which would involve funding from Google, was reported by the French daily Les Echos to include the ISP Free, a unit of Iliad, and Bollore Group's Bollore Telecom. While the companies mentioned--Intel Capital was also included in the Les Echo article--have refuted any suggestion of discussions or talks, Free is the sole holder of a national licence for WiMAX and Bollore Telecom holds 20 regional licences for the service. A nationwide network in France is estimated to require €1 billion investment and would need the assistance of technology providers and wealthy backers--roles that Intel Capital and Google could, and might be very eager to, fulfil.

For more on this story:
- go to Forbes

Related stories:
Europe's first mobile WiMAX network goes live. Mobile WiMAX story
Clearwire eyes European WiMAX partnerships. Clearwire WiMAX story