Communiqué de presse

The French Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ART) has approved France Télécom's standard interconnection offer

Paris, 9 April 1997

The French Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ART) has approved France Télécom's standard interconnection offer, after ensuring that the draft offer submitted to it was in compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 26 July 1996 and the interconnection decree of 3 March 1997.

This document sets out the technical conditions and prices upon which France Télécom and the new operators will base the agreements enabling the interconnection of their networks, from 1 January 1998.

Intense discussions have taken place with all the players concerned, enabling an equitable final solution to be reached.

The regulatory deadline for approval of this standard interconnection offer is 1 July 1997. However, it appeared advantageous to approve and publish the main technical components of France Télécom's standard interconnection offer, before the initial public offering, scheduled in May, of part of France Télécom's share capital; it also appeared desirable to make these details available, as early as possible, to enable new public network operators to prepare the financing and undertake the investments necessary to prepare their networks for the provision of a public telephone service from 1 January 1998.

Certain aspects of this standard offer should be completed within the next three months. This first version, applicable in 1998, will be subject to refinements over the coming years, to reflect experience gained and changes in the telecommunications market.

The tariffs approved by the Authority have been set in relation to France Télécom's forecast costs for 1998. After international benchmarking, the Authority considered it was not necessary to change the tariffs, as they result from an analysis of these costs. These reflect France Télécom's high ranking among the major leading telecommunications operators.

Press Contact:
Jean-François HERNANDEZ
tel : 33 1 40 47 70 33 - fax : 33 1 40 47 71 98
email : Jean-Francois.Hernandez@art-telecom.fr
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