Page 138 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The telecoms watchdog ARCEP has revealed that won in the auction. ARCEP originally aimed to conduct
the 5G auction for frequencies in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz the auction in April, but was forced to delay due to
band has now concluded, with the successful bidders Covid-19 (coronavirus). In an interview with France
agreeing to pay a total of EUR2.786 billion (USD3.271 Info, ARCEP President Sebastien Soriano said there
billion) for 310MHz of spectrum. In the last round of the was no limit to the sum raised by the auction, but the
auction (held on 1 October), the qualified candidates authority hoped operators would “remain reasonable”
requested the following number of blocks: Orange and keep some money to invest in the networks. He
(four), Altice France (SFR, three), and Bouygues and referred to a deal struck in 2018 to close gaps in LTE
Free Mobile (two each); as the cumulative requests coverage, which had already seen operators commit to
matched the number of available blocks, the auction invest €3 billion into their networks. Soriano told the
was closed. In total, Orange secured 90MHz in the band outlet 5G will bring better opportunities for people and
for EUR854 million, followed by Altice (80MHz, EUR728 will modernize a lot of industries, while playing-down
million), Bouygues Telecom (70MHz, EUR602 million) concerns over potential adverse health effects.
and Free Mobile (70MHz, EUR602 million). ARCEP is (September 29, 2020) mobileworldlive.com
now planning to hold a ‘positioning’ auction in October,
to determine the position of the secured blocks in French telecom authority Arcep published a new
the band. As previously reported by TeleGeography’s version of the industry code of conduct introduced in
CommsUpdate, ARCEP revealed in February 2020 2018 on Quality of Service (QoS) measurement, which
that four companies submitted applications for the adopts a data-driven ‘crowdsourcing’ approach to
allocation of frequencies in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz band assess the broadband quality experienced by end-
in mainland France, namely Bouygues Telecom, Free users. The code of conduct is targeted at testing tools
Mobile, Orange France and Altice France. In March 2020, from players such as nPerf and QoSi, with the aim to
however, ARCEP postponed the 5G spectrum auction increase transparency on data collection and enable
to an unspecified date due to the COVID-19 outbreak. A any third party to analyze results. Among the main
spokeswoman for the authority was quoted as saying changes, the updated version requires that industry
that ARCEP ‘won’t be able to maintain the auction players provide mobile and fixed broadband end-
planned for mid-April’, and plans to ‘organize the users with information on the different elements that
frequency sale for a later date once more information might impact QoS measurements and speed tests.
is available’. (October 2, 2020) commsupdate.com This information includes, for example, how the use
of Wi-Fi could affect the internet connection, and
French regulator ARCEP launched the country’s first 5G factors including the model/version of the operating
spectrum auction, covering frequencies in the 3.4GHz system or the web browser installed on the equipment.
to 3.8GHz bands, with commercial services expected Additionally, industry players that want to comply
to go live by the year-end. In a statement, the authority with the code are now asked to display median, rather
noted operators will be able to bid for 11 lots of 10MHz than average values for certain indicators, notably
blocks and they will be able to obtain no more than latency. They are also required to introduce a minimum
100MHz in total. The reserve price is €70 million capacity for test servers to avoid hampering test
per 10MHz, with expectations the process will raise results. Looking forward, the regulator said that a new
more than €2.2 billion in total. As part of the auction, revision of the code will be introduced to coincide with
operators will need to deploy 5G services across the implementation of the planned “access ID card”
10,500 sites in 2025. The nation is conducting a two- API, scheduled for 2022. QoS measurement tools
stage process, with blocks of 50MHz of the spectrum complying with the code will be able to benefit from
available being sold for a fixed price of €350 million the features offered by this API, leading to increasingly
each to the four main operators. This spectrum is due accurate QoS tests.
to be made available at the same time as the blocks (September 16, 2020) telecompaper.com

The German government was tipped to tighten be drafted into legal text, which is expected to be
restrictions on equipment vendors supplying its reviewed in November. Notably, Germany has not yet
mobile networks, but to stop short on following global caved into US pressure to ban Huawei, unlike Australia
counterparts in issuing a formal ban on Huawei. Reuters and more recently the UK, which have restricted the
Germany reported government sources said the nation planned Chinese vendor’s involvement in their 5G networks
due to security concerns. Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone
to scrutinize vendors’ 5G RAN and core equipment. The
news outlet added authorities had developed a formula Germany and Telefonica Deutschland are major
for dealing with so-called high risk vendors, after two customers for Huawei and a ban would represent a
years of wrangling. The mooted restrictions will now big blow to the company’s foothold in the country, and

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