French telecom regulator Arcep has authorised mobile and broadband operator Bouygues Telecom to deploy LTE in the 1800MHz band from 1 October. The operator asked Arcep in July 2012 to be able to operate LTE service over its 1800MHz spectrum, which is only used for GSM at present.
Arcep states that as a condition to do so, Bouygues will have to reduce its spectrum holding by 1 October to a duplex block of 23.8MHz, the same quantity as Orange France and SFR currently own. Additionally, Bouygues must reduce its 1800MHz spectrum further, such that it will only own a duplex block of 20MHz by 25 May 2016. Fees related to the ability to use these frequencies in a technology-neutral fashion will be set by decree at a future date.
Bouygues Telecom has a month to retract its request, should it choose to do so. SFR and Orange can also request that their 1800MHz band licences include 4G. Free Mobile, which holds no 1800MHz spectrum, can be allocated available frequencies in this band to allow more balanced access to the spectrum.
