The founder of French ISP Free, Xavier Niel, has written to the French digital economy minister, Eric Besson, asking that LTE spectrum be allocated to all four operators and that spectrum be capped to stop wealthy operators from grabbing all the…
The founder of French ISP Free, Xavier Niel, has written to the French digital economy minister, Eric Besson, asking that LTE spectrum be allocated to all four operators and that spectrum be capped to stop wealthy operators from grabbing all the frequencies, according to Les Echos.
The newspaper reports on its website it had seen the letter from Niel, in which he argued that the process focused on land-use planning and spectrum valuation. Encouraging development, he said, only figured as the government’s third objective and was barely taken into account.
Free fears that having five or six times fewer frequencies than Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom could leave the company without the necessary resources to compete with its rivals.
Niel is also asking the government to reduce coverage targets and oblige operators to share networks in less populated areas.
He is also requesting the auction to be delayed, to allow time for a public consultation to consider technical issues relating to the digital dividend.
The regulator said on Friday that the LTE auction process could be launched in early May with a view to awarding licences before the end of the year.
The process has already been delayed because of disagreements between the regulator, which is keen to ensure that the four mobile operators are able to bid, and the government, which wants to maximise profits by selling the spectrum to the highest bidder.
In March, Martin Bouygues, which owns Bouygues Telecom, criticised the government’s plan to sell the frequencies to the highest bidders, saying that Orange, as the richest operator, would win the auction.
