The French secretary of state for the telecom sector, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, said that the 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum on sale in the forthcoming 5G auction will have a minimum price of EUR 2.2 billion. In an interview with Les Echos, she explained that the country's four operators will each be able to acquire a block of 50 MHz at a fixed price of EUR 350 million in the first phase of the award process. After the allocation of the four blocks, totalling 200 MHz, operators will have to bid for the remaining 110 MHz of spectrum in an auction that will see each block of 10 MHz selling for a starting price of EUR 70 million. At the end of the two-part tender process, the maximum spectrum holding that an operator can obtain is 100 MHz.
In September, the French finance ministry had requested advisory body CPT (Commission des Participations et des Transferts) to carry out an assessment on the value of the spectrum. Agnes Pannier-Runacher said that the minimum price recommended by the CPT is EUR 2.18 billion. This is significantly higher than the EUR 1.5 billion value suggested by telecom authority Arcep. The advice of the regulator, however, is not binding and France's economy ministry will have the final word on the floor price. The government has so far declined to comment on what it expects to generate from the spectrum auction.
