Bouygues Considers Appeal Over France's Fourth 3G License

­France's Bouygues Group is considering filing a complaint with the European Commission about the French government's plans to auction a fourth 3G license. The company has previously expressed concern that the new license will be offered for sale with a considerably lower reserve price than it paid for its own license in 2002.

The new license is being offered with a reserve price of EUR 240 million (US$339 million).

"We would consider it normal that we should receive a repayment," if the sale goes through on this basis, Chief Executive Martin Bouygues told a press conference.

France Telecom has also previously indicated that it would file a complaint with the EU, claiming that the lower license fee is tantamount to illegal state aid.

Bidders have until 29th October to submit their bids, with the license expected to be awarded around June 2010.

Iliad, the parent company of French Internet service provider Free, has confirmed that it will be a candidate for the license. A previous bid for the license by Iliad was rejected by the regulator in October 2007. Virgin Mobile France has previously suggested that it might be interested in the license as a joint venture with Numericable, and Egypt's Orascom Telecom recently said it would consider joining a consortium to bid for the license.

According to figures from the Mobile World analysts, the three incumbent operators market share at the end of Q1 '09 was: Orange (47%), SFR (36%) and Bouygues Télécom (17%)

On the web: Arcep - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 30th August 2009