Four little turns ... and a suspension.
Auctions for 5G began this Tuesday morning.
After four laps, the operators had not yet decided.
The minimum to be paid by operators for these frequencies has now climbed to 2.39 billion (against 2.17 at the time of the start of the price), a gain of 200 million for the State in one day.
Read also: Will 5G increase the price of phone plans?
The auctions are for 11 10 MHz blocks.
They were offered at a reserve price of 70 million euros.
The price of the block climbed to 85 million at the end of this first day.
The auction will resume tomorrow, in round five, with the price of a block set at 90 million euros.
For the following rounds, the increment was set at 3 million per block in 10 MHz steps by the market regulator (Arcep).
At the end of this first day, Orange requested 50 MHz, SFR 30 MHz, Bouygues Telecom 30 MHz and Free 20 MHz.
So a total of 130 MHz while only 110 are available.
Bidding will stop when demand equals supply.
In this process, operators are required to request more blocks than what is available.
Over turns, block prices go up and operators can maintain their demand, or ask for one less block.
How to use auctions
The allocation of 310 MHz of frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, known as the 3.5 GHz band, takes place in three stages.
The first phase takes place at the beginning of the year.
Bouygues Telecom, Orange, Free and SFR each spent 350 million euros for the first four blocks of 50 MHz.
Each operator therefore already has 50 MHz.
At the most, they can acquire an additional 50 MHz during the current auctions.
A third phase will then take place: the so-called placement auctions between 3.4 and 3.8 GHz.
This is far from neutral in terms of performance and choice and adjustment of equipment.
5G in other frequencies
Technically, operators can completely launch 5G in France using frequencies other than those currently being priced.
The 700 MHz frequencies could in particular be used for 5G called FDD.
The government has introduced new obligations to declare 5G antennas to mayors, which may slow down this type of deployment.
In addition, the debate has started between the operators.
SFR does not hesitate to denounce a “false 5G”, fearing that Bouygues Telecom and Free will launch 5G before it, on this principle.
The auctions are not yet over, the commercial hostilities are already open.
