The Authority of Regulation for Electronic Communications and Posts (Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes, Arcep) has confirmed that it has received 5G spectrum applications from a number of companies in the French overseas territories of Reunion and Mayotte. The process was kickstarted on 3 August 2021 and the deadline for applications was 12 October.
In Reunion the watchdog has received bids from Orange, Societe Reunionnaise du Radiotelephone (SFR Reunion), Telco OI (Free Reunion) and Zeop Mobile. All four companies have requested spectrum in the 700MHz and 3.4GHz-3.8GHz bands.
In Mayotte, meanwhile, 700MHz frequencies have been requested by Orange, SFR Mayotte, Telco OI Mayotte and Maore Mobile. Maore Mobile and Telco OI Mayotte have also applied for 900MHz spectrum.
All 700MHz/900MHz bidders will now progress to the ‘auction phase’, in which Arcep judges the financial criteria of the respective offers. Applications for frequencies in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz range, however, do not exceed the available spectrum blocks, so these can be distributed without an auction. The watchdog expects to hand over the frequency authorisations by March 2022.