All four French telecoms groups submit applications for mobile auction
PARIS (Reuters) - France's telecoms regulator ARCEP said on Tuesday that it has received applications from all four domestic carriers to indicate that they will take part in an upcoming auction of 4G mobile spectrum.
Orange, Numericable-SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad will bid for the 700 megahertz airwaves, which are being freed up from television broadcasters.
Mobile carriers need such low-frequency spectrum to transport voice and data traffic at time when volumes are surging as people increasingly surf the web and watch video on the go.
The auction process will occur during the month of November, said ARCEP, with the aim of delivering the approvals by end of the year.
France hopes to raise at least 2.5 billion euros from the sale of mobile airwaves, which has already been earmarked for the defense budget.
(Reporting by Leila Abboud; editing by Geert De Clercq)
