The French government's moves to put France on the
mobile broadband fast track were acknowledged this morning when
theGSMA, the global mobile telephony
association,awarded it its annual Government
Leadership award.
Last year France committed to allocate to mobile services part
of the "digital dividend" spectrum being freed up by the
replacement of analogue television with digital TV. It also allowed
mobile operators to offer broadband services in the 900MHz
frequency band, which is currently used for second-generation
mobile services.
Both these new assignments are at relatively low frequencies,
where radio waves travel long distances and penetrate the walls of
buildings and other obstacles easily. This is crucial to giving
broadband access to people who live more than 3km from an
exchange.
Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, said, "France is creating the
conditions that will enable the mobile industry to invest in the
broadband networks that will deliver the productivity improvements
and economic growth necessary to help pull the world through these
tough times."
France's moves are in stark contrast to the UK, where
communications regulator Ofcom is only now consulting on how to
free up the same frequencies for mobile operators, and is in
dispute with Vodafone and O2 about releasing some of the 900MHz
frequencies they hold.
Communications minister Stephen Carter, who two weeks ago
produced an interim report onequivalent strategies for the UK
called Digital Britain, met representatives for Vodafone and O2
last week to resolve the dispute.
A spokesman for the Department of Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (BERR), confirmed the meeting but declined to say
what was proposed. Nor did she say when the parties would meet
again."We are not going to give a running commentary on this," she
said.
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, France's secretary of state for
strategic planning and the development of the digital economy,
said, "By harmonising European rules on digital dividend
allocation, we will allow the vast majority of citizens to access
these new (mobile broadband) services, while reinforcing
development opportunities for the digital economy."
The Digital France 2012 plan allocates new spectrum to mobile
broadband services in line with the recommendations of the ITU's
World Radiocommunication Conference of 2007. The more countries
that commit to them the cheaper and faster it should be to
implement the technology, because of economies of scale.
France is also moving to license the so-called 3G extension band
(2.6GHz), which will significantly increase the capacity available
for mobile broadband services in urban areas and other
hotspots.
France has also set up measures to stimulate mobile usage by
rural communities, low-income groups and the disabled. It also aims
to bring in legislation to let people use their mobilephones to pay
for goods and services at point of sale in retail outlets,
restaurants, train stations and elsewhere.