they have finally been simply reprimanded

The Constable of the telecoms could use the strong method. He chose the soft method. Orange and SFR, which did not meet their obligations to coverage of the French population at the end of August last, could have been heavily punished financially... they have finally been simply reprimanded. The two operators "were still" yesterday by the regulatory authority for electronic communications and posts (Arcep), accelerate the deployment of their networks and a new timetable for installation of the equipment was negotiated with the Constable of the sector. On August 21, 2009, date control of obligations by the authorities, networks 3 G of Orange and SFR covered respectively 84 and 74 of the population. Under the terms of the UMTS licence purchased each for EUR 619 million in 2001, they should cover 98 and 99.3 of the population respectively. Bad publicity for the two holdouts, at a time when the theme of the digital divide is on the front of the stage.

After weeks of negotiations, Arcep gave operators two two years more to deploy their infrastructure. The regulator was satisfied by the explanation of the two companies, namely the difficulty of installing new sites and deploy equipment using frequencies in the low dense areas. Orange will have to reach a coverage 3 g 98 before the end of 2011. SFR, who said have relied on the quality of service over the past two years more to the extent of its network to cover 98 of the population before the end of 2011, and 99.3 of the population by the end of the year 2013. The law of modernization of the economy, passed by the Parliament in summer 2007, yet gives the power to the controller, if operators fail, to impose a penalty that could reach several hundreds of millions of euros by operator, the number of unserved households.

The fear of the CST.

In recent weeks, the Constable of telecoms therefore shaken the threat of a heavy fine to bend the operators. As much as Orange and SFR are repeat offenders: they have already benefited in 2003 for a period of twenty-eight months from initial licensing obligations. At the time, operators do however missing argument 3 G phones did not exist yet and the equipment were not yet stabilized.

Still, fear of Constable worked in Orange and SFR: in three months, they have significantly improved the coverage. On 1 December 2009, the network 3 G of Orange covered 87 of the population and that of SFR, 81. In a quarter, Vivendi subsidiary has thus accelerated its investment and improved its coverage rate of the population by 7 points, i.e. more than 4 million French. In three months, more 3 G of SFR network was extended only over the past two years... In Bouygues Telecom, it goes far beyond its legal obligations. Its network covers 80 of the Metropolitan in 3 G population, whereas it must be accessible by 75 of the French end of 2010.

Arcep promises that 98 of the French will have access to 3 G mobile telephony in 2011, with eventually two years behind on the goals. While the regulator has awarded last week the fourth mobile telephony licence Free, the absence of any sanctions could however did little to encourage operators to invest in their infrastructure in little dense areas. Arcep has nevertheless indicated yesterday that it conduct, when the time comes, "a careful control of the compliance of deployment of Free Mobile, which are 27 of the population in 2012, 75 by 2015 and 90 in 2018".But by not sanctioning the existing operators, Arcep has set a precedent.