New frequency bands to support innovation

Paris, 19 October 2016: France’s National Frequency Agency (ANFR) and Arcep are publishing a summary of the public consultation on new opportunities for using the 862 – 870 MHz, 870 – 876 MHz and 915 – 921 MHz bands, to meet the growing needs of the Internet of Things.

This consultation was launched on 3 June of this year, to gather feedback from stakeholders on the use of these three frequency bands for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), a fast-growing sector that has been identified as an important source of growth in France. These three bands are currently reserved largely for the Ministry of Defence.

Thirty three (33) contributions were received. They underscore the increasingly diverse uses being made of connected objects, and the majority confirmed their interest in the new regulatory framework being proposed for these bands, and for their harmonisation at the European level. These additional frequencies are intended to be used in particular with LPWAN (Sigfox, LoRaWAN, Qowisio…) and Wi‑Fi HaLow (802.11ah) technologies, and would enable the emergence of new smart city (water and gas meters, parking and public lighting), home automation (burglar alarms and smoke detectors) and eHealth applications. They are among the driving forces of future economic development.

The responses to the consultation will enable ANFR, in concert with Arcep, to firm up France’s position on a harmonisation scheme for these frequency bands at the European level. To this end, ANFR has been hosting the Frequency Management working group in Bordeaux since 17 October, whose task is to examine the scheme for harmonised of these bands. The group will submit its proposals to the CEPT (European Conference of European Postal and Telecommunications Administrators) decision-making body, in the run-up to a European consultation.

At the national level, ANFR will draw on the updated EU Decision on harmonisation of radio spectrum for use by short-range devices, which is due to be adopted in 2017, and on consultations with the Ministry of Defence and Arcep, to provide the Prime Minister with proposed revisions to the national Frequency Allocation Table.

This work is part of ongoing efforts to modernise spectrum management, working to make increasingly shared use of this scarce resource. Arcep and ANFR thus hope to underpin the development of the Internet of Things, and support innovation from French companies working in this sector.

Moreover, this public consultation is part of a broader initiative devoted to the Internet of Things which Arcep and its partners, notably ANFR, began in 2015, and which will culminate in a symposium hosted by Arcep on 7 November (programme & registration).

The summary of the consultation, along with all of the contributions received, can be viewed on the ANFR (www.anfr.fr) and Arcep (www.arcep.fr) websites.