French telecom officials discuss next generation network

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000002 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/CIP TFINTON, EUR/WE JLARREA, AND EUR/ERA DLIPPEAT USDOC FOR NTIA CSPECK AND ITA JBURTON STATE PASS FTC FOR SMCDONALD AND HSTEVENSON FCC FOR INTERNATIONAL TWEISLER STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR JMCHALE/KSCHAGRIN JUSTICE FOR KWILLNER BRUSSELS FOR JUNDERWOOD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECPS ETRD FR SUBJECT: French telecom officials discuss next generation network regulation, spectrum management and customer service REF: Paris 7728 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) French telecom regulator ARCEP is using persuasion to cajole telecommunications operators that are constructing next generation fiber optic telecom networks to rent their infrastructure to competitors ("unbundle the local loop"). While historic operator France Telecom is resisting, their competitor, the Iliad Group, has offered to do so. The Senate has amended a bill providing for the conversion of television from analog to digital. Rather than ARCEP and the broadcast regulator deciding how to reuse the spectrum formerly earmarked for analog television, a parliamentary-led group would do so. The National Assembly must agree before this change is made permanent. The GOF is considering a law that would facilitate class action lawsuits in the telecom sector, as well as eliminate charges consumers pay while waiting for telecom customer service representatives to answer the phone. End summary. ¶2. (U) On December 13, 2006 Embassy econoff met French Electronic Communications and Postal Regulator ARCEP European Regulatory Framework Implementation General Directorate Aurelie Doutriaux, International Division Director Anne Lenfant, and International Division Deputy Director Joel Voisin-Ratelle. ARCEP officials discussed the deployment of next generation high-speed optical fiber networks, the upcoming changes in French spectrum management, and consumer protection. Next generation networks: the infrastructure challenge -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Doutriaux, the highest ARCEP official present, set the scene by describing ARCEP's approach to regulation of next generation networks. ARCEP had called for operators to cooperate and share the burden of investing in fiber access networks. She pointed us to a speech delivered at the IDATE (Institut de l'Audiovisuel et des Telecommunications en Europe) Conference on November 16 by ARCEP Chairman Paul Champsaur, in which he estimated the cost of a national roll-out of such a network at "several tens of billions of euros" over a decade. As a solution, ARCEP would encourage the pooling of civil engineering infrastructure work and of the cabling of buildings. To promote this policy, ARCEP is part of a working group that the ministries of industry and housing established, which also includes telecommunications operators and property management representatives. Next generation networks: the competition challenge -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) At the same time, Doutriaux stressed that ARCEP's preference is for fiber networks that are open to alternative operators (point-to-point access) to prevent monopolies. To that effect, ARCEP, in June 2005, established the Public Initiatives Networks Committee (French acronym CRIP),a consultative body of local authorities and network operators to make proposals on "how to combine the quick extension of fiber and preserve the future of competition." Through increased dialogue between local network operators and local authorities, ARCEP hopes to avoid the regulatory problems that have surrounded the plans of Deutsche Telekom (DT) to exclude competitors from its fiber networks on grounds that DT should be allowed to recoup its 3 billion euro investment. ¶5. (SBU) So far, only the Illiad Group, owner of telecom operator FREE, has announced that its fiber infrastructure would be open to alternative operators on a wholesale basis. Doutriaux noted that Illiad chose to allow other operators to use its fiber network without any pressure from ARCEP. Illiad will be offering high-speed broadband over its own fiber optic network in Paris starting in the first half of 2007. (Free already operates a 20 MB ADSL service throughout most large French metropolitan areas.) Free announced that it would spend one billion euros between 2008 and 2012 to construct a fiber optic network in France. ¶6. (SBU) France Telecom (FT),on the other hand, has been very cautious about very high broadband development, Doutriaux continued, and is not making its network available to competitors, opting instead for a Passive Optical Network (PON),which allows no unbundling. FT launched a pilot project in certain areas of Paris last July reaching 500 customers and plans to deploy its fiber network by March 2007 in Paris. By June 2007, it plans to start PARIS 00000002 002 OF 003 high broadband service in Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Poitiers, and Toulouse. It is aiming to have 150,000 to 200,000 clients by the end of 2008. (Note: ARCEP announced on December 19 that it would initiate a "administrative inquiry" to clarify why FT did not plan to offer unbundling. Additionally, cable operator Noos announced in December that it will offer 100 MB internet service over its cable infrastructure. New fiber optic telecom operator Erenis also announced that it aims to service 150,000 households by the end of ¶2007. End note.) Next generation networks: the revenues challenge -------------- --- ¶6. (SBU) Lenfant said that deploying very high-speed networks was only justified if they supported new applications, service offerings, and access to content. In that perspective, the current relationship between content publishers and networks would need to change, Lenfant noted. Some of the revenues earned by service providers would go to access providers, and electronic communications operators would help finance the content's creation, and audiovisual content in particular. ¶7. (SBU) To finance this "new model," ARCEP is discussing the extension to Internet access providers of the tax that France-based television stations pay to support new content production, provide grants and subsidies to French films and producers of audiovisual works, and contribute to the production of high-definition and mobile-television formats (French acronym COSIP tax). However, those in ARCEP supporting the extension of the COSIP tax to telecom operators would support doing so on the condition that "all operators have access to all content." Spectrum management after the switch to digital -------------- -- ¶8. (SBU) Lenfant and Doutriaux said that the Senate had changed the GOF draft bill mandating the conversion from analog to digital television (reftel) by 2011. The bill originally specified that ARCEP and audiovisual regulator Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) would manage the spectrum freed up by the switch by 2011 from analog to digital television. During its review of the bill, the Senate adopted an amendment that established a new "Commission on the Digital Dividend," which would include the ARCEP and CSA Chairmen, as well as the National Frequency Agency (NFA) Director General. This Commission would also include eight French Parliamentarians, with one of them presiding. If approved by the National Assembly during its review of the draft bill, this new commission will decide how to reallocate the freed up spectrum. Consumer Protection -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Although France has healthy competition in its telecom sector, its Achilles heal is its poor customer service. Frustrated customers have launched a plethora of lawsuits seeking compensation for services that do not work. Econoff asked whether ARCEP plans to address this issue with a customer service complaint website or any publicly available statistics to shame operators into improving their service. Lenfant and Doutriaux explained that, unlike the FCC, ARCEP does not have any competency in consumer protection matters but is consulted on consumer issues affecting the telecoms and electronics sectors. Last summer, the French Government consulted ARCEP on its draft bill on consumer protection, which contains one important provision concerning electronic commerce. Presently, consumers of French telecom services pay for customer assistance calls to all telecom operators (usually about 0.12 euros/minute). The waiting time to all operators, including FT, is quite substantial; more than 30 minutes of waiting time is common place. The GOF-draft bill proposes that the waiting period during such calls be free of charge, although consumers would still pay for the call once connected to the customer assistance service. ¶10. (SBU) More generally, the draft bill aims to introduce class action lawsuits in the French legal system. Lefant pointed out that the telecom sector needed class action lawsuits to decrease the number of cases clogging the French court system. She noted that last October, the French consumer association "Que Choisir" filed not one but 12,530 requests for damages against three mobile phone companies accused of illegal collusive behavior, requesting a total PARIS 00000002 003 OF 003 of only 750,000 Euros. The consumer association succeeded in making its case for a collective legal remedy. However, it is far from certain that the bill will get through Parliament before the end of the session in February 2007. Parliamentary debate is to start in late January or early February, and there are many more GOF bills to be discussed during that time. Hofmann