3 and 5 to 15 in a more urban unit 50 000 inhabitants

According to the information of the letter of the Les Echos group telecommunications, Neuf Cegetel before the State Council about resumption of WiMax of Altitude Telecom licence and its resources in frequencies by group Iliad, the home of the Free Internet access provider. The initial action was formed on 27 January, confirmed a spokesman for the alternative operator. Since the announcement by Iliad, September 5, 2005, the resumption of all general public Altitude Telecom assets, Arcep also received several letters from operators him expressing their concerns about "resumption" of this single license loop national local radio (BLR). Interviewed, France Telecom indicated "is part of his excitement" to Arcep and prepares to "file a recourse to intervention very soon" to the high administrative court - by mid-April to "support" of the action brought by Neuf Cegetel and "food for thought about the fate of this license. In announcing in a press release published on April 6 that "service WiMax based on the infrastructure deployed for the last two years will be extended to all subscribers Free broadband in the coming weeks", the mother of Free House referred this referral to the Council of State in which it "reserve its comments on the motion" - coming "in support of Arcep.

New WiMax licenses in July

The incumbent operator, which is candidate WiMax in the 22 regions, would see askance competition of Iliad - already its more virulent challenger via unbundling - in broadband wireless and immediately on any metropolitan territory. Neuf Cegetel is, also, candidate for the WiMax licenses in the 22 regions soon assigned by Arcep and, more importantly, doubly: through the society of the upper flow (Neuf/SFR/channel) and HDRR Multi region (LDCollectivités/TDF/local). This case before the Council of State occurs at the time where the Arcep is hear records of 35 players candidates for the new regional WiMax licences will be issued at the beginning of July. The motion to litigation filed by the number one alternative operators asks, we confirmed at the Royal Palace, "annulment of the decision on November 24, 2005 by Arcep which dismissed its application for repeal of decisions of 24 June and 9 December 2003, which attribute to Altitude Telecom permission to use frequencies in the 3.5 Ghz band. Nine Cegetel and France Telecom also criticized the regulator not objecting to the use of this licence for loop local radio (BLR) by companies other than Altitude Telecom.

9 Telecom company gave its licence

The challenge is to size: it is indeed the only licence BLR national Arcep had allocated - with frequencies in the 3.5 Ghz band - the operator of Norman origin in December 2003 (1). And, after the handover the same year by... 9 Telecom business of its BLR frequencies sound "on the France" (see box on page 3). Neuf Cegetel bites still fingers today rendered - too precipitously in the past - this rare resource adjusted by WiMax. Having not challenged in his time the allocation of these resources at Altitude Telecom, Jacques Veyrat, P - dg Neuf Telecom (now Neuf Cegetel) wrote to Paul Champsaur, Chairman of Arcep, on 14 November last asked to revoke the authorization of Altitude Telecom - become "illegal" in his eyes - to use frequencies in the 3.5 Ghz band. The regulator immediately remitted an estoppel end dated on 24 November, Les Echos purchased (2). It is this decision which is contested before the State Council and through it the use of the unique national WiMax license by the Iliad group. Many questions will arise to the elders of the Palais-Royal. Is Altitude Telecom takeover by the parent company of Free not to "transfer" to the Internet access provider resources in frequencies of its WiMax licence on a secondary market for frequencies that does not exist yet, the order in Council of State should nevertheless be submitted soon to the signature of the Minister Arcep, the takeover of the capital of Altitude Telecom is not an "assignment of permission" to use the 3.5 Ghz band frequencies but "a simple change of ownership" (dixit Paul Champsaur to Jacques Veyrat). Michael Boukobza, CEO of the Iliad group, is in any case always defended to have purchased a license to say instead "shares of the Altitude telecom company" acquisition (3).

Arcep found nothing wrong

This has not prevented the media to interpret the acquisition of Internet assets and public operator of Norman origin as "the single national WiMax license buyback." Altitude Telecom could give this rare resource even before that the Arcep has verified the respect of obligations (this procedure is still ongoing) The Constable of telecoms had indicated in March to the letter of telecommunications that he was "check the obligations of licence attributed to Altitude national coverage" (4). But the regulator, which was required to proceed to the first control of Altitude Telecom obligations at 31 December 2005, still refused to interfere with the terms of this acquisition for simply "check recovery by Free of the initial obligations of the Altitude telecom company". The IFW company, subsidiary of the Iliad group, now operates the national licence and "t to develop its network in accordance with the commitments made before the Arcep.

Cover commitments

Based in Mont-Saint-Aignan, near Rouen, the alternative operator had obtained the regulator approval on December 9, 2003 (5) and is committed to a coverage rate radio of the population minimum to the 31 December 2005: 33.4 in Basse-Normandie, 33.4 in upper Normandy, 33.4 in Ile-de-France, and 5 in each of the 19 other regions that Altitude Telecom is also committed to cover : Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Burgundy, Brittany, Centre, champagne-Ardenne, Corsica, Franche-Comté, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, France, Pays de la Loire, Picardy, Poitou-Charente, Alpes-d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes. And by December 31, 2011, the operator is committed to these values of 33.4 and 58.3 and 5 to 15 "in a more urban unit 50 000 inhabitants. In the meantime, boucle local radio will be back on the front of the stage and around new mobility services full swing competition WiMax broadband wireless. For the time being, the competition begins at the Palais-Royal.

(1) - Determination of ART No. 03 - 1294 of 9 December 2003 amending Decision 03-742 of 24 June 2003 authorising the Altitude society to use frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band.

(2) - See Les Echos on April 7, 2006.

(3) - See letter of telecommunications No. 173, pp. 4 and 5.

(4) - See letter of telecommunications No. 184, p. 5.

(5) - Decision of ART No. 03-1294 of 9 December 2003 amending Decision 03-742 authorizing the elevation company to use frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band.

BOX .

Altitude Telecom: the only survivor of the first BLR

More than five years ago, Normandnet - the Internet of the Rouen group Altitude Telecom subsidiary - obtained ART in 2000 its first licenses in the regions of Basse-Normandie (1) and high. Only two operators will then benefit from two loops local radio (BLR) national: Fortel and Firstmark. Following the reconciliation of these two operators, Fortel (Squadran now) made the ART its frequencies in September 2002 (2). As soon as the regulator decided that it would allocate these frequencies "to the as applications within the limits of available resources", Altitude Telecom has submitted in March 2003 a first application for the regions of Haute-Normandie and Basse-Normandie, in Ile-de-France by its subsidiary Broadnet, before in September 2003 an allocation of frequencies on all parts of the metropolitan territory.

Iliad, an advantage in WiMax

For its part, 9 telecom company, the subsidiary of Neuf Telecom which used not these frequencies at the time, wrote to ART on October 28, 2003 to serve the restitution of its frequencies in 3.5 Ghz and declare "renounce the use of these frequencies on the France" (3). Based in Mont Saint Aignan, near Rouen, the alternative operator obtained regulator approval on December 9, 2003 (4). Two years later, Altitude Telecom passes under the control of the Iliad group. The single licence national BLR is even more valuable for the parent company of Free that the year 2006 will mark the launch of the new WiMax licences, regional etc but cumulative on the 22 regions French, coveted by 35 candidates.

1 - See letter of telecommunications No. 61. -2 - See letter of telecommunications No. 74, p. 6 and no. 95, p. 7. -3-Decision of ART No. 03-1296 of 9 December 2003, registering the request made by 9 telecom company (LDCom group) to return the BLR frequencies assigned on 28 July 2000, at Firstmark band 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz.-4 - decision of ART No. 03-1294 of 9 December 2003 amending Decision 03-742 authorizing society Altitude to use frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band.