France plans to sell each operator in the country 50MHz of 5G spectrum for €350 million and then auction a further 11 lots with a minimum price of €70 million each. The country’s secretary of state to the minister of economy and finance Agnes Pannier-Runacher called the proposed sums “reasonable“.
However, in an interview with Le Figaro, president of French regulator Arcep, Sebastien Soriano, said the minimum price for the complete allocation should be set at the much lower rate of €1.5 billion. The government will make the final decision, with Arcep only asked to provide recommendations. The auction is expected to take place in April 2020.
According to the plan, existing mobile operators will be allowed to buy a licence for 50MHz of 5G suitable spectrum for €350 million in return for agreeing to commitments around coverage and availability. The remaining 110MHz on offer will be put forward to the auction.
During her interview, Pannier-Runacher said the fixed price was set at a “very attractive“ price, noting in the German 5G spectrum auction operators had to pay twice as much for the same amount. She added the coverage commitments would be “much more ambitious than in other countries“.
Nokia and SURF, the organization for IT in Dutch education and research, have successfully reached a single carrier 800Gb/s optical transmission over SURF’s existing cross-border, multi-vendor research and education network infrastructure.
Nokia and Vodafone are collaborating to test the viability of L4S technology over passive optical networks (PON).
The GSMA believes that critical reform of European laws is necessary to position the region as a technology frontrunner by 2030.
