PARIS (Reuters) – The French state will receive about 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in total proceeds from the sale of the country’s 5G spectrum sale following an auction that ended on Thursday, two sources close to the matter said.
Telecoms operators Orange, Altice Europe’s SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad were competing for the acquisition of 11 blocks of 10 Megahertz (MHz), or 110 MHz.
Following 17 rounds over three days, the cost of a single block reached a final price of 126 million euros on Thursday. This brings the total price for the whole spectrum to 2.8 billion euros, the sources said.
Orange was attributed four blocks, followed by SFR (3 blocks), Bouygues Telecom (2 blocks) and Iliad (2 blocks). French telecoms regulator Arcep, who oversaw the auction, declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8517 euros)
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain, Editing by Sarah White)
