Communiqué de presse

ARCEP publishes the summary of consultation responses on the use of open spectrum

Version française

Paris, 17 December 2014

Today, ARCEP is publishing an executive summary of all of the contributions to the public consultation it held on the use of open, i.e. unlicensed, spectrum, which ran from 25 July to 15 October 2014. The aim of this consultation was twofold:

- to propose the ARCEP draft decision enabling the use of a wide array of open frequencies by short-range devices, notably through the transposition of a set of provisions that have been harmonised at the European level;

- and to deepen ARCEP's forward-planning on the future use of and need for open spectrum, particular in view of the upcoming development of the internet of things.

There were 29 responses to the document submitted to consultation, submitted by a wide variety of stakeholders, notably operators, hardware suppliers and trade associations.

First, the consultation made it possible to validate the guidelines and to firm up the wording of the draft decision's provisions on short-range devices. In November 2014, ARCEP thus adopted its decision on short range devices, and transmitted it to the Government. It will be published and come into effect once it has received Government approval.

Second, the feedback from market players helped to enrich ARCEP's forward-looking analysis of all of the topics addressed as part of the consultation. The number and diversity of the contributions served to underscore the importance and multiplicity of the issues that are bound up with the internet of things. Frequencies, and particularly the use of unlicensed spectrum, are key to the development of innovative applications, and several of the contributors shared their analysis of how several specific bands will evolve. ARCEP will take these elements into account when contributing to international spectrum harmonisation efforts.