Bouygues

French president gets involved with fourth 3G licence

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:39:42 -0400

The level of political lobbying surrounding the granting of the fourth and final 3G licence has been revealed following reports that the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has expressed his reservations.

The three existing 3G operators are believed to be at the centre of these manoeuvrings, claiming that the applicant for the fourth licence will only be asked to pay €240 million, a fraction of the €619 million they each paid in 2001.

However, the involvement of the president of France in this argument significantly increases the pressure on the telecoms regulator to review the condition of the 3G tender. According to inside sources, Sarkozy was said to be sceptical on the choice of the fourth 3G operator, suggesting that the "lowest price was not necessarily the best one."

The French ISP Illiad is expected to be the most likely successful bidder, but, following Sarkozy's remarks, the value of the company's shares fell by over two per cent in a rising market. Other bidders interested in the fourth licence are expected to include a joint proposal from Numericable and Virgin Mobile, but observers remain doubtful of this combined bid making progress.

Orange and SFR have already threatened to challenge the bid price for this fourth 3G licence before the European Union competition authorities, while Bouygues Telecom said it too was considering action.

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Telegeography

New French 3G licence gets ugly - operators complain to EU

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:50:55 -0400

Vivendi has joined the list of French mobile operators planning to lodge a formal complaint with the EU over the €240 million price tag set by the French government for the country's fourth 3G licence.

Having paid €619 million for the original 3G licences, the existing operators believe the new pricing is effectively providing state aid to the fourth operator relative to the other three licence holders. Martin Bouygues, the CEO of Bouygues Telecom--France's third-largest mobile phone operator--said that "we would consider it normal that we should receive a repayment," if the sale goes through on this basis.

The chairman of SFR's parent company, Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, said that after paying €619 million for their licences, existing network operators (Orange, SFR and Bouygues) feel they have been subjected to unfair treatment as the government is now selling spectrum at below market value. "Does France really need a fourth operator while several other countries are moving from four to three? It has just happened in Australia, is imminent in Spain and the UK and may take place in the US."

The deadline for applications for the licence is set for Oct. 29, with the licence to be awarded around eight months later.

Likely bidders for the new 3G licence include the ISP operator Illiad, MVNO Kertel, cable operator Numericable and Egypt's Orascom Telecom. Orascom has indicated that it wants to expand its operations into France and has said it is ready to "ally itself with one of the candidates."

This stance has also been proposed by Bollore Telecom, claiming that it would be unreasonable to start trying to acquire the fourth licence alone. "If people want us to join them, we'll study the possibility, but that's not the case for the moment," said CEO Vincent Bollore. The company has also clarified its position regarding its 20 WiMAX licences--which it no longer wishes to sell--but instead offer the 3.5GHz spectrum as backhaul capacity to mobile operators.

For more on this story:
Telecom Paper and Total Telecom

Cut your SMS prices--PLEASE, says French government

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:57:53 -0400

The French population is beginning to complain loudly about increasing inflation, claims the French consumer goods minister, who has reacted by asking the country's three main operators--Orange, SFR and Bouygues, to cut SMS prices that have only fallen slightly over the past four years.

The minister, Luc Chatel, has urged the three operators to be aware of the problem faced by French consumers, and has invited them to make an example by cutting the cost of text messages.

The national regulator, Arcep, has provided support to Chatel's call by stating that French consumers on pay-as-you-go phones pay an average cost of €0.12 per text. This price has remained nearly constant since 2004 while the volume of texts has doubled in this period. Of interest are the prices of SMS from France's MVNOs that cost around 25-30 per cent less than from the three main operators. This 'consumer-pleasing' initiative by Chatel comes only days after the EU announced a proposal to slash by roughly two thirds the cost of text messages for people travelling between EU countries.

For more on this story:
- go to MoCo News

Related stories:
EU to impose heavy cuts to SMS roaming charges. EU SMS story
GSMA Responds To EU Proposals To Regulate Roaming Costs For Text Messaging. GSMA story