Telecoms officials in France are set to hold a new auction for the country's remaining 3G spectrum licence, after the last bidder offer failed to meet government expectations.
The low bid last year from broadband provider Iliad, the only company to bid, was rejected by French telecoms regulator Arcep.
The tender, backed by the French government, is meant to increase competition in the French mobile market by allowing a new 3G operator to compete head on with incumbents Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. The move is similar to the UK's 3G auction process, which saw the biggest of the first five spectrum licences only offered to a new entrant to the market. The eventual winner of that licence was 3.
Like France, the UK has one outstanding 3G licence, which is expected to be auctioned off shortly. It is expected to fetch much less than the 4.4 billion average paid for each of the last five.
In March this year, the telecoms regulator said it would consult on the tender with market players and publish its conclusions by 30 September.
Earlier this week Arcep rejected the idea of splitting up the license into different frequency packages without giving priority to a new entrant.
"We are looking at procedures that give priority to all or part of the frequencies to a newcomer, following similar conditions that governed the previous tenders," Arcep said in a statement.
