France's digital economy minister Eric Besson announced that the government will launch the LTE licence tender at the end of May. A total of 30 MHz of spectrum will be divided in four lots, with no bidder eligible for more than 15 MHz. The number of lots corresponds to the number of mobile carriers in France: existing operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom and licence holder Free Mobile, due to launch service in January 2012. Speaking at a conference organised by French telecom regulator Arcep, Besson also announced that he and the minister for social cohesion Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin were launching a social mobile tariff in partnership with MVNO Zero Forfait. The country's first social tariff in mobile communications will give people on government benefits 40 minutes of calls and 40 SMS a month for EUR 10. The minister said the government was also working with the European Commission on launching a social tariff for broadband internet access before the summer.
He added that the French government would recommend the adoption of large price cuts for voice and SMS roaming in Europe at the EU telecommunications ministers' council on 27 May. Furthermore, an online public consultation on the transposition of a packet of EU telecom directives into French law went live on the morning of 4 May. Besson gave a brief outline of the issues involved in the debate on net neutrality and reaffirmed France's commitment to give a significant amount of attention to internet issues during the G8 summit in Deauville.
