Key Benefits:
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment,
Having regard to Decision No. 676/2002/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002;
Considering Directive No. 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services;
Considering Directive No. 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorization of electronic communications networks and services;
Considering the general code of public ownership;
Considering the post and electronic communications code, including articles L. 32 and L. 41 to L. 42-3;
Having regard to Act No. 86-1067 of 30 September 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, including article 26 of the Act;
Considering the Law of Guidance No. 92-125 of 6 February 1992 on the territorial administration of the Republic;
Having regard to Act No. 92-1476 of 31 December 1992, Corrigendum Financial Law for 1992, in particular its section 83;
In view of Decree No. 2007-1531 of 24 October 2007 establishing a royalty to cover the costs exposed by the State for the management of radio frequencies;
Considering the referral of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe dated 19 March 2007;
Considering the referral of the General Council of Guadeloupe dated 19 March 2007;
Considering the opinion of the Guyana Regional Council of 20 March 2007;
Considering the referral of the General Council of Guyana dated 28 February 2007;
Considering the referral of the Martinique Regional Council dated 28 February 2007;
Considering the advice of the General Council of Martinique dated 29 March 2007;
Considering the opinion of the Regional Council of the Meeting of 21 March 2007;
Considering the referral of the General Council of the Meeting dated 1 March 2007;
Having regard to the advice of Mayotte's General Council of 30 March 2007;
Considering the advice of the General Council of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon dated 6 April 2007;
Considering the opinion of the Radiocommunication Advisory Commission dated 20 February 2007;
Considering the opinion of the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority dated 20 March 2007,
Decrete:
Any authorization granted for the use of a frequency on a given location and under identified conditions shall be assigned by assignment. Such a frequency is called assigned frequency.
The assigned area of assignment is defined as the part of the territory on which the assigned frequency can be used.
Allotment means any authorization granted for the use of a frequency block on a given geographic area. Such frequencies are called alloties frequencies.
The holders of a licence to use frequencies issued by order of the Minister responsible for electronic communications made before 1 January 1997 or granted by decision of the Authority for the regulation of electronic communications and posts are subject to:
- the payment of an annual royalty for the provision of radio frequencies to be determined in accordance with Chapter I of this Decree;
- the payment of an annual management fee, the amount of which is intended to cover the costs incurred by the State for the management of the Hertzian spectrum and the authorizations for the use of frequencies and determined in accordance with Chapter II of this decree;
- the payment of the amount they have pledged, if any, as part of a call for applications under Article L. 42-2 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code. The payment of this amount is payable as soon as the frequency authorization is granted and the amount that the operator has committed to paying is specified in the authorization decision.
The licensees of a frequency usage authorization of less than 29.7 MHz are exempt from the payment of royalties.
By derogation from the previous article, the amount of royalties due by operators operating a second- or third-generation terrestrial radio network open to the public for the use of GSM and IMT band frequencies is specified in the specifications annexed to the respective authorizations. For these authorizations, chapters I and II and the first paragraph of Article 14 of this Decree are not applicable.
The following coefficients are used to calculate the royalty amounts.
The coefficient "l" represents the bandwidth of assigned frequencies expressed in MHz.
The "bf" coefficient characterizes the frequency band.
The "lb" coefficient characterizes the bond length adequacy in the case of fixed point-to-point service.
The "es" coefficient characterizes spectral efficiency in the case of fixed point-to-point service.
The "a" coefficient characterizes the permissions to use frequencies by allotment.
The "c" coefficient characterizes the surface covered by the permission to use frequencies.
The coefficients "k1", "k2", "k3", "k4" are reference values.
The values of the coefficients bf, lb, es, a, k1, k2, k3, k4 are fixed by order of the Minister for Electronic Communications.
For a point-to-point fixed service assignment, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the provision fee is the result of the product of coefficients l, bf, lb, es, k1.
For a purpose-to-point fixed service allotment, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the provision fee results from the product of coefficients l, bf, a, c, k1.
For the purposes of this article, the coefficient c is equal to the relation between the surface covered by the allotment and the total surface of the metropolitan territory.
For an allotment of the fixed local radio loop service, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the royalty made available, results from the product of the coefficients l, bf, c, k2.
For the purposes of this article, the coefficient c is equal to the relation between the surface covered by the allotment and the total surface of the metropolitan territory.
For an allotment of the fixed local radio loop service outside the metropolis, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the provision fee is set at 23 euros per megahertz. For the territorial community of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and the departmental community of Mayotte, this amount is 7.7 euros per megahertz.
For the assignment of a Earth station of fixed or mobile satellite service, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the provision fee is the result of the product of coefficients l, bf, k3.
For an allotment of the fixed satellite service, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the provision fee is the product of the coefficients l, k3, a and the number of stations capped to 150.
For an allotment of the mobile satellite service, the annual amount, expressed in euros, of the royalty of availability is the product of coefficients l, k3, a.
For assignment of the mobile service of independent networks, the annual amount of the provision fee, expressed in euros, is the result of the product of coefficients l, bf, c, k4.
For a fixed station, the allocation surface of a assignment is a disk centred on the station and whose radius is equal to the maximum usage distance of the assigned frequency when the station's antenna is omnidirectional, or an area of that disc corresponding to the antenna's opening angle in the case of a directional antenna.
For mobile stations, the allocation surface of a assignment is a disk whose centre is determined by their fixed connecting station and whose radius is equal to the maximum distance between the centre and the limit of use of the assigned frequency.
For mobile stations not attached to a fixed station, the allocation surface is a disk whose location of the centre is specified in the specifications attached to the authorization and whose radius is equal to the maximum distance between the centre and the limit of use of the assigned frequency.
The range of allocation surfaces shall be calculated from the maximum operating distances and the opening angles of the antennas mentioned in the specifications annexed to the permission to use the frequencies.
For the purposes of this section, the value of the coefficient c shall be determined according to the following scale according to the range of the allocation surface relative to the frequency considered or the sum of the range of the allocation surfaces if the frequency is assigned in several locations.
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 250 of 27/10/2007 text number 11
By derogation, for assignment in the frequency bands of the mobile service under the Civil Aviation Area, the annual amount of the royalty made available, for air-to-ground connections, expressed in euros, is the result of the product of the coefficients l, bf, c, k4, in which the coefficient "c" is 0.03.
For an allotment, the amount of the provision fee due by the operators of a radio network of the mobile service is specified in the corresponding authorities by the Authority for the regulation of electronic communications and posts.
For authorizations to use frequencies that would not fall within the provisions of sections 5 to 8, the amount of the royalty to be made available shall be determined by the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 42-1 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.
The amounts of the royalties for the provision of sections 5, 7 and 8 are updated each year as of January 1, depending on the annual variation of the Consumer Price Index (Included Tobacco) calculated for the previous year.
Are exempt from the payment of the royalty:
- emergency medical services of public hospitals;
- fire and rescue services;
- the publishers of radio services referred to in the fourteenth paragraph of section 29 of Act No. 86-1067 amended of 30 September 1986 on freedom of communication.
The annual amount, expressed in euros, of the management fee is equal:
- the product of a reference constant "G" by the number of assignments, for assignments;
- the product of a reference constant "G'" by the number of megahertz allotis, for allotments.
The values of G and G' are set by order of the Minister for Electronic Communications.
By derogation, the amount of the management fee is determined by the product of 533 570 euros in relation to the area covered by the allotment and the total surface of the metropolitan territory.
For alloted frequencies attributed to a local radio loop operator on overseas departments, the amount of the management fee is set at Euro1,524.
Annual royalties for the current year are payable before January 31, or on the date on which the frequency is made available for a new assignment.
The amount of radio frequency usage royalties is calculated pro rata temporis in the number of days.
The amount of the provision fee is due for a minimum of seven days and the amounts of the management fee for a minimum of four months.
The due period begins on the date of notification to the licensee of the frequency allocation decision or on the date of that decision when it is later. It ends at the end of the decision to grant permission to use frequencies or, where appropriate, at the date of notification of the decision of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority and the positions repealing the decision to grant permission to use frequencies.
The president of the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority is ordering all royalties, with the exception of royalties relating to the authorizations for the use of frequencies by assigning less than 470 MHz out of open networks to the public, for which the Director General of the National Frequency Agency is ordering.
The recovery and litigation of royalties provided for in this Decree shall be carried out under the conditions set out in III of Article 83 of the Corrigendum Financial Act for 1992 (No. 92-1476 of 31 December 1992).
This Decree comes into force on 1 January 2008.
However, from the date of the publication of this Order, the provisions that apply to royalties due to fixed service point to point other than those due by the publishers of audiovisual communication services within the meaning of the Act of 30 September 1986 referred to above.
The amended Decree of 3 February 1993 on royalties for the provision of radio and management frequencies by the licensees issued pursuant to Articles L. 42-1 and L. 42-2 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code is repealed effective 1 January 2008.
By derogation from Article 14:
- royalties calculated for 2007 pursuant to the provisions of this decree referred to in the second paragraph of Article 16 shall be payable one month after the publication of this decree;
- royalties due for 2008 are due as at 30 June 2008.
The provisions of this Decree shall apply to Mayotte.
The Minister of the Interior, Overseas and Territorial Communities, the Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment, the Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and Public Service, the Secretary of State for the Overseas and the Secretary of State for Business and External Trade are responsible, each with respect to it, for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, October 24, 2007.
François Fillon
By the Prime Minister:
Minister of Economy,
finance and employment,
Christine Lagarde
The Minister of the Interior,
the overseas and territorial authorities,
Michèle Alliot-Marie
Minister of Budget, Public Accounts
and the Public Service,
Eric Woerth
Secretary of State
loaded with the overseas,
Christian Estrosi
Secretary of State
Enterprise
and Foreign Trade,
Hervé Novelli
