France’s auction of spectrum in the 700-MHz band drew to a close on Tuesday after 11 rounds of bidding, raising €2.796 billion.
The cost of each 5 MHz block of paired spectrum came in at €466 million, regulator Arcep announced. That figure comes in some way ahead of the €416 million reserve price.
Orange and Free Mobile walked away with the most spectrum, picking up 2×10 MHz, or two blocks, each, while Bouygues Telecom and Numericable-SFR both won one block.
However, the final price each operator will pay will not be determined until after it has been decided which position on the frequency band it will occupy.
There are four possible positions in the 700-MHz band, Arcep explained (see chart). The winning bidders must submit their preferred position to the regulator by 19 November along with the price they are willing to pay to obtain that position. Operators that do not secure their first choice of position will pay two-thirds of that amount for their second choice, one-third for their third choice, and nothing at all for their least preferred slot.
Orange and Free Mobile were both quick to publicise their success in the auction.
"The 700-MHz frequencies will be used in particular to reinforce the capacity and speed of the group’s very high-speed mobile broadband network, particularly indoors and in rural areas, and to prepare for the introduction of 5G once this technology is available," Orange said, in a statement.
"The total amount for the 10 MHz of spectrum attributed to Orange is €932 mill ion," it added. "This corresponds to the average amount paid for low-frequency 4G spectrum in major European countries, and is close to the amount paid by Orange for its 800-MHz frequencies in 2011."
Orange added that it has more than 90 MHz of spectrum in total and, following the allocation of the 700-MHz band, will be the only operator in France to hold 30 MHz of low-range frequencies.
Iliad, meanwhile, noted that Free Mobile will hold 55 MHz of 3G and 4G frequencies following the allocation.
"Iliad is the leading investor among French telecom operators, devoting almost 28% of its revenue to capital expenditure," the firm said. "Free Mobile’s 4G network now covers around 60% of the French population and it has 5,400 4G sites in service, the majority of which are fibre-connected."
Bouygues Telecom noted that it will add its 5 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum to the 800-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2.6-GHz frequencies it already uses for 4G. Taking into account its 900-MHz and 2.1-GHz spectrum, the telco holds 25% of France’s available frequencies, it added.
Numericable-SFR also claimed superiority of spectrum portfolio in its reaction to the auction result.
It now has 25 MHz of sub-1 GHz spectrum – it adds its 5 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum to 10 MHz of 800-MHz and 10 MHz of 900-MHz frequencies – and 55 MHz of higher-frequency airwaves, it explained.
"This award confirms our position as the leading operator of high-speed broadband in France," said SFR president and COO of parent company Altice, Michel Combes. "The group confirms its goal of covering 90% of the population with 4G and 12 million fibre connections in 2017, 18 million in 2020, and 22 million in 2022," he said.
