France opens up spectrum to vertical sectors for industrial 5G

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry, and Cédric O, Secretary of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, announce with Laure de La Raudière, President of Arcep, the launch of two new measures aimed at promoting access to 5G for manufacturers and “vertical” players (local authorities, universities, research laboratories, etc.).

These new measures follow the conclusions and recommendations of the industrial 5G mission, entrusted by the Government to Philippe Herbert.

Measure 1: The opening of an experimentation window in the 3.8 – 4.0 GHz band: a new option to allow manufacturers and other “vertical” users to appropriate 5G and its uses
This counter, open until December 31, 2022, is aimed at players who would like to experiment with new use cases for 5G: manufacturers, logisticians, players in the energy, health or even smart city sectors. . The opening of this window completes the range of frequencies accessible to these players (2.6 GHz TDD and 26 GHz bands).

These experiments, lasting 3 years with the provision of a maximum of 100 MHz of spectrum per player, will allow manufacturers to appropriate technologies related to 5G and to benefit from feedback, and public actors to build the appropriate regulatory framework for these needs.

As identified by the 5G industrial mission, the proximity of the 3.8 – 4.0 GHz band to the 5G “core” band (3.4 – 3.8 GHz) allows manufacturers to now access a mature and varied ecosystem of terminals and equipment, as well as a large amount of frequencies.

Measure 2: Creation of a portal to simplify access to the 2.6 GHz TDD band for professional mobile networks
In an effort to simplify frequency access procedures, Arcep is launching a digital authorization request portal for professional mobile networks in the 2.6 GHz TDD band. Opened today, this portal replaces the request form and now allows players in professional mobile networks to visualize on a map the frequency resources available and the frequencies already allocated, to make a request for frequencies, and to follow the instruction of their request by Arcep departments.

These two new measures are in addition to previous initiatives by the Government and Arcep to promote access to 5G for industrial companies and “vertical” users.
In 2019, the Government and Arcep opened a first window specifically for “verticals”, which made it possible to develop the first private 4G/5G networks in the 2.6 GHz TDD band. This system was supplemented the same year by a call for the creation of experimental platforms in the 26 GHz band , resulting in the opening of 15 platforms.

In September 2020, the Government launched the call for projects “Sovereignty in telecommunications networks, as part of France Relance, in order to accelerate 5G applications”, which made it possible to support 21 platform projects. experimentation with 5G uses. The call for projects is one of the many mechanisms of the 5G acceleration strategy and future telecommunications network technologies to support the development of 5G uses for the benefit of territories and industry. Arcep participates in particular in the interministerial task force which steers the actions of the acceleration strategy.

In 2020, the Government and Arcep also provided, in the authorizations for the use of frequencies in the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band , two obligations for operators:

• An unprecedented mechanism aimed at ensuring that operators undertake to respond to reasonable requests that will come from economic players (companies, local authorities, administrations, etc.), by providing them with suitable offers with coverage and performance, or even, if the operator prefers it, entrusting them locally with its frequencies.
• Access to the functionalities offered by “slicing”, which allows telecom operators to dedicate part of their 5G network in the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band to certain players: “The new performances of 5G open up the way to innovative uses in many “verticals” of the economy. These “verticals” expect tailor-made networks and offers that meet their specific needs. To do this, Arcep is asking operators to activate the most innovative functions of 5G – “slicing” or the capacity for “differentiated services” – by 2023 at the latest.

Arcep will ensure compliance with these obligations.

CT Bureau