ARCEP confirms the auction will take place in November
France’s four mobile operators have filed applications to participate in an auction through which telecom regulator ARCEP will award spectrum in the 700 MHz band to support LTE services. The regulator said firms submitting applications were Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR.
The regulator said it will examine the applications to ensure they satisfy the procedure’s admissibility and qualification criteria. Once the examination process is complete, ARCEP plans to publish a list of the candidates that are eligible to participate in the spectrum auction. The government agency said the process is expected to be completed in approximately 30 days.
ARCEP also confirmed the spectrum auction will begin in November and that the mobile licenses will be awarded before the end of the year. The 700 MHz spectrum band is expected to allow French operators to broaden the reach of their LTE networks, which are still limited in scope.
French operator Bouygues offers LTE services using 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands; Orange and SFR currently offer LTE services using their 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands; while Free uses just the 2.6 GHz band to support LTE services.
Vodafone launches VoLTE in Portugal
Also in EMEA, Portuguese mobile operator Vodafone commercially launched voice-over-LTE service across its local LTE networks.
The U.K.-owned mobile operator said VoLTE services will be made available gradually, depending on the availability of supporting handsets. Initially, the service will be available via the Microsoft Lumia 640 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices, but in the coming months VoLTE will be extended to all manufacturers and models that support compatible software.
Vodafone Portugal initially launched LTE services in March 2012, and currently offers connectivity using the 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands. The operator’s LTE network is said to cover 90% of the country’s territory.
Vodafone Portugal ended June with a total of 4.93 million mobile subscribers. The telco also had 357,000 fixed broadband customers at the end of June.
