Orange is proud to obtain two blocks of 700MHz in French spectrum auction

Paris, Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Orange welcomes the results of the spectrum auction in France and is proud to announce that it has obtained two blocks of 5MHz, or a total of 10Mhz, in the 700Mhz band. The auction represents a major milestone for Orange’s development in France and is an essential industrial investment that will enable the Group to reinforce its position as a leader in very high-speed mobile broadband, allowing its retail and enterprise customers to benefit from 2020 and the following decade.

With over 90MHz of spectrum in total, Orange is strengthening its leadership position by holding the French market’s largest spectrum portfolio. Following the attribution of this new set of frequencies, Orange will be the only operator in France to hold 30MHz of low-range “golden” frequencies. These low-range frequencies, that are notable for their excellent propagation properties, will play a crucial role in the implementation of the Group’s Essentiels2020 strategic plan by enabling Orange to provide an outstanding customer experience at a time of exponential growth in network traffic. The 700MHz frequencies will be used in particular to reinforce the capacity and speed of the Group’s very high-speed mobile broadband network, particularly indoors and in rural areas, and to prepare for the introduction of 5G once this technology is available. The total amount for the 10MHz of spectrum attributed to Orange is 932 million euros. This corresponds to the average amount paid for low-frequency 4G spectrum in major European countries, and is close to the amount paid by Orange for its 800MHz frequencies in 2011.

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