While the price war is raging in the mobile, the controversy swells at the end of unlimited Internet packages, the operators challenge the tender on licensing 4G, Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, responds to Figaro on all issues and criticizing the socialist project on digital.
LE FIGARO. – The bidding on licenses 4G is attacked. Will you give up?
Eric Besson. – The State Council will vote Wednesday. Expect. But thanks to this call for nominations, France will be part of the forefront of the mobile broadband Internet. The government is selling rare frequency of the highest quality, which all countries say they are strategic. We do this with the twin goals of coverage and stimulating competition, the benefit of consumers. Traders feared that a monopoly or duopoly is not recreated.But this call for applications is the first to include criteria as pro-competitive: the creation of four lots so that all current operators can expect to find their place, creating a criterion favoring offers to host virtual operators. We have gone as far as possible to encourage competition. But we also need strong operators, able to achieve very significant investment for years to come, both for the deployment of mobile broadband as that of the optical fiber.
How will you deal with interference of DTT by 4G?
As has always been the case in all countries of the world, a trader who buys frequencies is liable for any interference that they can generate. We assess that risk to less than 2% of households.To facilitate the processing of any such interference, the government will establish a single telephone number, with a small call center, so that individuals can report any such interference on their TV and get the linkage with operator responsible. This device will be funded by all operators at a rate of 2 million euros per year for five years.
You advocate for changing the standard of TNT. Chains bonus going to be frozen, and consumers will they have to buy a TV?
I am not campaigning for anything, and there will be no change in standard of TNT in the coming years. The French continue to receive 19 free channels and 10 pay channels of TNT, with no changes.What we're talking about is the next step, and new services to be launched in the coming years: new TV channels, personal mobile TV, 3D TV … The question is whether these new services will use the older DVB-T or the new DVB-T2 which allows to get 70% extra services. Chains on bonus, not the government that calls into question, but the European Commission, which initiated proceedings no teletrack payday loans. It would be irresponsible to issue permits for them to be canceled two years later, and that the state is then ordered to pay $ 800 million to 1 billion euros in compensation.Let the president of the CSA put its proposal and the prime minister officiate.
Packages Unlimited Internet at home are at risk?
The unlimited plans are at the heart of the development of the digital economy and are not threatened, quite the contrary. New unlimited call plans appear almost every week. Some operators have started to consider to better segment their offer, which does by no means the end of the unlimited. With the development of very high speed, there will be even more unlimited in the months and years to come.
How do you protect consumers?
We have set up with the social tariff Frédéric Lefebvre mobile phone, which allows 40 minutes to communicate and send 40 SMS for less than 10 euros per month.We will implement in the coming days the social tariff of the Internet, or 20 euros per month for telephone and broadband Internet, plus 3 euros per month for a box. We will sign an initial agreement on September 13. The order that I issued on August 26 also includes important measures as the establishment of an impartial mediator to each operator, the requirement to obtain consent from consumers for the automatic sending of commercial messages or for the establishment of witnesses navigation.
What are the issues you organize inter-ministerial seminar on October 21?
This is progress in the implementation of the declaration of Deauville.Networks (both funding and security), protection of personal data and the fight against the digital divide will be on the agenda.
What do you think of socialist proposals on digital?
The project of the PS is archaic. It is based on a tax Internet access, known as "socially progressive". Internet access will be paid based on their income! The PS also wants to abolish Hadopi and create a global license. This proposal has been accepted anywhere in the world. This would be the end of copyright in the land of the cultural exception! The PS also provides for the creation of a single public operator for the deployment of high-speed fixed and mobile. He still has not understood that the introduction of competition was the key factor in broadband deployment and growth of the digital economy.
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