French telecom regulator Arcep has weighed into the polemic over Free Mobile's service launch and rival operators' unions claims that Free had switched off some of its own base stations and shifted traffic to roaming service provider Orange's network, despite its coverage requirements. Arcep chairman Jean-Ludovic Silicani noted that adjustments are to be expected in the complex process of launching a new network. He adds that Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, 3G licence winners in 2001 and 2002, failed to meet their own coverage requirements. Arcep tolerated this, Silicani said, due to operators' claims of technical and business difficulties. As for the current polemic about Free Mobile, the regulator states that Arcep has not been contacted by any of the operators and has been given no proof of the reported allegations. Nevertheless, for reasons of transparency and serenity, Arcep has asked Free Mobile to update information on the state of its network, providing a detailed list of base stations, those that are fully activated, and reasons which would have led it, if necessary, to switch some off. Arcep will then verify the information in the field, using the same methodology as with its earlier field-tests.
