ART publishes the results of the application procedure for the Auvergne, Corsica, Limousin and Franche-Comté regions

20 December 2000

Autorité de régulation des télécommunications (ART) is publishing today the results and examination reports for the selection procedures for wireless local loop operators in the Auvergne, Corsica, Franche-Comté and Limousin regions, which had been launched by the application procedure published on 29 September 2000.

ART continues to examine applications for the Guyana region, and will publish the results and examination report before 30 January 2001, as required by the application procedure.

The purpose of these new procedures was to deliver authorisations which had not been allocated following the previous procedure launched on 30 November 1999, because of the withdrawal of three chosen candidates.

An accelerated examination schedule

The selection of the applications submitted before 15 November 2000 has been conducted according to an accelerated timetable so that the results for the four Metropolitan regions could be published one-and-a-half months in advance of the planned schedule.

During the examination, ART ensured that candidates met qualification criteria, then, in regions where there more candidates than authorisations, it ranked the candidates according to the selection criteria defined in the application notice.

So, as it did on 11 July for the previous procedure, ART published today the results of the selection procedures and the examination reports providing a detailed analysis of the files. The reports are available for downloading on ART's Web site, or in printed form on request.

• Extensive and homogenous geographic coverage for wireless local loop operators

In each of these four metropolitan regions, candidates were operators already holding a wireless local loop license for various regions, delivered last summer following the previous procedure.

The new licenses will allow the chosen operators to extend the coverage of their authorisation and make it more homogenous.

• Similar or more extensive coverage commitments for these regions as for the previous procedure

These decisions will ensure that all metropolitan regions benefit from the same deployment conditions for wireless local loop networks.

In this respect, it is important to note that the projects chosen by ART today offer similar—and sometimes greater—geographic coverage commitments, than those offered by candidates not chosen or by those who had backed out for the same regions in the previous procedure.

These commitments will become obligations in the licenses.

• Country-wide coverage

With the publication of these results, the process introducing the wireless local loop to all of Metropolitan France is complete. In coming days, ART will submit to the Secretary of State to Industry its proposed authorisations. Once signed, the proposal will allow operators to begin deployments in these regions.

Thus, four wireless local loop operators are already, or will be, authorised in each metropolitan region: two operators chosen previously for the entire metropolitan territory and two regional operators, distributed as per the list in the annex.

• An ambitious programme which puts France at the leading edge in Europe

By encouraging the development of projects covering the entire country, the introduction process for the wireless local loop chosen in France satisfies the major concerns represented by the deployment of these new networks, for regional development, stimulating competition for the benefit of consumers and the development of high-speed services.

As this ambitious process is completed today, our country is a forerunner in Europe for the development of this innovative technology.