Iliad gets further mobile setbackFrench Internet provider’s still eyes mobile market entry; government undecided on possible fourth operator.
Iliad subsidiary Free has had another set-back in trying to get hold of mobile network space in France, following the government’s decision last year not to award it a mobile licence.
According to Dow Jones, Maxime Lombardini, CEO of Iliad, told a French newspaper that the operator was interested in renting network space from the three other French mobile service providers Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. But all three declined to strike an agreement.
Free wanted to use the operators’ networks at a fee that would be just above cost price as a short-term solution, reports say.
The company is currently waiting on the French government to make a decision on available spectrum in France.
Free applied for the fourth mobile telecommunications licence during last year, but the application was turned down as the French regulator Arcep felt Iliad would not be able to meet the financial criteria.
If Iliad wants to build a network large enough to cover 90% of the French population, it would have to fork out about EUR1.2 billion. Its net profit for 2007 was EUR150.2 million.
At the beginning of April, the French government said it is considering not allocating a fourth licence at all. Apart from Free’s financial situation, the government is also concerned that there is not really space for another operator, Dow Jones reported at the beginning of this month.
Commentators think that the government might decide to sell the available spectrum off in blocks.
In such a case, Iliad would be able to get hold of some parts of the spectrum.
In the meanwhile, CNN reports that Free and another alternative operator Neuf Cegetel will be testing interoperability of their fibre optic systems. This will bring them one step closer to sharing network space within buildings, Neuf Cegetel’s general manager Michel Paulin said.
