French MVNOs still hopeful to acquire 3G license
Libre Choix, a French MVNO claims France’s 3G Market as oligopolyâ€. Presently, the French Market is completely locked by the oligopoly of the three incumbents. Regardless of locked market of nine MVNO’s, each other’s revenue shares are distributed, catering less than 5% of the total of the French mobile market. The French MVNO suggests that the fourth 3G license holder should be a new entrant which can let the market set free from the locks of the three leading mobile operators. Libre Choix stated that splitting the available frequency should not be considered as the sole solution to stimulate the growth in the market. With the introduction of data 3G services the ARPU levels of the lower-end prepaid segment, targeted by MVNO’s, will see a significant rise. It was back in Nov 2007, when the French economic ministry said it was considering the modification of the terms for the country’s fourth 3G license. The modification was likely to include the license holder can make the payments within the coming years was the option suggested by ISP Iliad. Iliad’s bid was rejected by ARCEP, as the financial conditions were not met.
There still lies a question mark as to whether ARCEP will offer the fourth 3G license to an MVNO, or whether this will remain split between Orange, Bouygues, and SFR. On the other hand the economic ministry still plans to reserve at least one lot of the proposed three 5MHz frequencies for a new player in order to break the triad of French telecom market.