Lea e a month to declare itsel is ridiculous

Sell ne er used UMTS licence. Per ect condition. Non-negotiable prices: EUR 619 million. Lot o good requencies as a ree gi t or any order recei ed be ore No ember 17. "This is the small announcement Arcep has published yesterday. The telecoms regulatory authority launched a public consultation on the ourth and inal licence to third-generation mobile phone (UMTS), which is always a ailable. Potential applicants should say be ore 17 No ember i they are "candidates to obtain" the ourth licence. Arcep promises that the answers will remain "con idential". I candidates, a call or applications will be launched "end 2006", with a deposit "in the irst quarter o 2007", and an attribution "sometime in 2007". The conditions are exactly the same as or the other three licences, as well the (619 million euros) price set by Bercy, the technical conditions o Arcep. Thus, the co erage obligations are the same (see opposite), e en i they ha e not been met by the three operators.

It is expected that the ourth operator may, in the areas it co ers, rent the network o the other three (roaming). The terms o this location are also unchanged: they will be set reely by the three operators, and there ore potentially dissuasi e. Arcep has there ore wai ed help the ourth operator on this point, while it had yet proposed in 2005 to impose a rental rate which would be "excessi e, or e iction.

inally, the ourth operator will be entitled to a second generation simililicence (GSM): additional requencies in the bands 900 and 1800 MHz, used by GSM. These requencies are lower than that o the (2,000 MHz) UMTS and thus allow to co er the territory with less than transmitters. Hence the idea o UMTS in the requency (re arming) bands, including to co er lower cost campaigns. This is what want to Orange and S R. Arcep, to gi e them a green light, is whether it should allocate the GSM requencies between three or our operators. In other words, to reser e the ourth UMTS operator.

Urgent wait

Problem: se eral potential candidates do not wish to declare itsel so quickly. Thus the WiMax licensees want to wait a ew years to whether it is possible to make the mobile WiMax. There ore, some is planning to ask or time, but the Arcep posed an ultimatum to potential candidates: "I no player is declared candidate be ore 17 No ember, Arcep will take into account that the three current operators or the sharing o the bands GSM." It would be possible later to ha e the same access to the GSM bands than the three existing operators. This consultation represents the last opportunity to become a candidate to the ourth UMTS licence with the same batch o requencies than that a ailable to the three operators. " or Michel eneyrol, Member o the College o Arcep,"the process is launched." "I there is no candidate said, we will share the GSM requencies in three, e en i we are asked to wait".

This announcement was greeted reshly by U C - that choose: "Go ernments should help the candidates to the ourth licence, because a ourth operator would inally introduce the competition." irst, it must lower the barriers to entry: it must reduce the price o the licence, e en i then increase the annual ees. ","Lea e a month to declare itsel is ridiculous." "There is no urgency to the oligopoly o three operators preempt best requencies".