France will hold its 700 MHz spectrum auction beginning Nov. 16, the country’s regulatory agency announced Tuesday on Twitter.
According to previous announcements from the Autorite de regulation des communications electroniques et des postes (ARCEP), all four of the country’s top wireless carriers – including Bouyges Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR – have all filed applications to participate. ARCEP has said it hopes to issue the spectrum licenses to winners before the end of 2015.
France will be auctioning off six 2×5 MHz blocks in a multi-round ascending model and has set a reserve price of 416 million Euros per block.
The goal of the auction is to both raise funds from “intangible State assets” and help the country improve its wireless networks. As of May 2015, a report found that nearly 70 percent of French territory and 20 percent of the population were not yet covered by 4G services.
France’s auction will come just ahead of two North American spectrum auctions scheduled in 2016, including the auction of 80 MHz of wireless spectrum in Mexico in January and a similar U.S. spectrum auction slated for the end of March, and follows in the footsteps of Germany’s spectrum auction earlier this year.
Filed Under: Telecommunications (Spectrum)
