Paris, 28th June 2002
On 8 March, Autorité de régulation des télécommunications (ART) opened sanction procedures against Landtel France SAS, Broadnet France SAS and XTS Network (Caraïbes and Océan Indien) as part of the 31 December 2001 verification of wireless local loop (WLL) operators' respect of their deployment obligations under their licence.
Following two of these sanction procedures, given the nature of the defaults, ART has decided to partially revoke the authorizations held by Broadnet and Landtel. As a result, Broadnet keeps the Ile-de-France area, while Landtel retains two regions : Ile-de-France and Aquitaine.
In the other two procedures initiated against XTS Network Caraïbes and XTS Network Océan Indien, ART considered that a sanction was not justified under current circumstances. These companies are authorised to develop WLL networks in the 3.5 GHz frequency band in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana and Reunion. ART felt that the immaturity of equipment in this frequency band in 2000 and 2001 explained why these companies had not begun their roll out at 31 December 2001.
This first examination shows that despite the difficulties encountered by the telecommunications sector, WLL operators did begin their roll out during the 18 months following the allocation of their licences. ART remains convinced that this technology will allow the development of alternative offers for high-speed data services, in particular for small- and medium-sized companies.
The situation at 31 December 2001 is highly contrasting, as shown by the following figures:
- WLL operators have installed 175 base stations at 31 December 2001
- 17 metropolitan regions and one overseas département, representing 18% of the population, are covered by at least one WLL operator
- A WLL offer is available in approx. 30 cities with over 50,000 inhabitants
- About one thousand professional clients use the wireless local loop
| 26 GHz band | Number of regions where the operator was present at 31 December 2001 | Number of regions covered by the licence |
| Firstmark Squadran Altitude Belgacom (LDCOM) Broadnet (Altitude) Landtel | 13 10 2 7 1 1 | 22 22 2 9 15 7 |
Moreover, under the notification procedure of the discussed deal between the two national WLL operators (Squadran and Firstmark), ART has requested that LDCOM ensure a WLL offer is available in every French region by the end of 2002.