Conseil d’Etat rejects a request for referral for investigation submitted by SFR

Paris, 20 April 2010

On 25 February 2010, a call for submissions was issued for the allocation of two blocks of spectrum that are still available in the 2.1 GHz band: one 5 MHz block and one 4.8 MHz block.

In its Order dated 19 April 2010, the Conseil d’Etat rejected a request for a referral for investigation submitted by the company SFR.

SFR claimed that there were inherent problems in using the block of 4.8 MHz which required an expert to be appointed to investigate the matter.

The Conseil d’Etat upheld the Authority’s argument, stating its belief that the requested expert opinion would not be useful, “given the length and thoroughness of discussions to date, especially those initiated by ARCEP on the creation of blocks of spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band which would be likely to be subject to a new allocation procedure, and given the knowledge that SFR – an experienced mobile telephony operator – has of the technical findings of these discussions, combined with the very short length of time that an expert would have to carry out its investigation due to the only brief gap between the date on which the request for expert advice was submitted and the scheduled deadline for submitting applications”.

ARCEP reminds all players wanting to submit their applications for the allocation of the remaining 3G spectrum that they must do so by 12 p.m. on 11 May 2010.