France has taken another step towards issuing 5G licenses, completing the spectrum auction after a three-day bidding period, clearing the way for the final stage of the process.
Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad have pledged to spend nearly 2.8 billion euros to purchase spectrum in the 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz bands.
The Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Administration (Arcep) stated that Orange bid 854 million euros for 90MHz spectrum, SFR bid 7.28 euros for 80MHz spectrum, and Bouygues Telecom and Iliad each bid 602 million euros for 70MHz spectrum.
Orange CEO Stephane Richard (Stephane Richard) said that the operator was “very satisfied” with the results, adding: “We have just taken an important step in making the network of the future a reality.”
Arcep plans to carry out the spectrum positioning process this month, which is the last step before the issuance of licenses.
It pointed out that the quotation for each 10MHz spectrum reached 126 million euros, far exceeding the base price of 70 million euros .
The operator’s final bill also includes 50MHz spectrum at a fixed price of 350 million euros.
The license incidental requirements include activation of 5G services on 3,000 sites by the end of 2022, 8,000 by the end of 2024, and further expansion to 10,500 by the end of 2025.
Jefferies analysts speculated that the auction may trigger competition among operators for “first launch of 5G services” and pointed out that Bouygues Telecom has “advanced network status that needs to be protected.”
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