registration document France Telecom 2009 - Orange.com

6 OVERVIEW
overview of the group’s business
OF BUSINESS
United Kingdom
Ofcom is the regulatory authority responsible for regulating
fi xed-line and mobile telecommunications, broadcasting and
spectrum.
The authorities responsible for competition are the Offi ce of
Fair Trading (OFT) and the Competition Commission. Ofcom
also holds powers regarding competition for the electronic
communications sector and provides sector assistance for
competition analysis in case of mergers.
Digital Britain
January 29 BERR issued an interim report on Digital Britain
on UK plans for digital transition.
June 16 BIS issued its fi nal Digital Britain report, with
the ambition to secure the UK’s position as one
of the world’s leading digital economies.
August 13 BIS consultation on changes to Ofcom’s duties:
Promotion of investment in infrastructure and
provision of an assessment of the infrastructure
every two years.
September 30 Spectrum refarming: The Independent Spectrum
Broker (ISB) submits a fi nal report to the UK
Government.
October 16 Consultation on the direction to Ofcom to
implement the Wireless Radio Spectrum
Modernisation Programme contains proposals
in the event of market consolidation.
November 19 The Digital Economy Bill provides for the
implementation of certain elements of the Digital
Britain report.
December 11 Treasury consultation on implementing the
landline tax: implementation of the levy on fi xed
lines to fund NGA roll-out, proposed by the
Digital Britain report.
In January 2009, the BERR published an interim Digital Britain
report which proposed fi ve objectives:
■ modernizing and upgrading the UK’s fi xed, mobile and
broadcasting infrastructures to sustain Britain’s position as a
leading digital economy;
■ providing a favorable climate for investment and innovation in
digital content, applications and services;
■ offering a range of high quality public service content,
particularly in news;
■ developing the nation’s digital skills at all levels; and
■ guaranteeing universal access to broadband, increasing its
penetration rate and using broadband to deliver more public
services more effectively and more effi ciently.
In June 2009, BIS published the fi nal Digital Britain report, with
an overriding ambition which is to secure “the UK’s position
as one of the world’s leading digital economies” and to offer
“a strategic view of the sector, backed by a program of action”.
The key proposals of the Final Report are as follows:
Universal Broadband
■ Universal Service Broadband of 2 Mb /s for “virtually” every
UK household in 2012.
■ Mix of provision modes including xDSL, fi ber to the local
sub-loop, mobile telephony and possibly satellite.
■ 200 million pounds from direct public funding, supplemented
by a government Strategic Investment Fund contribution.
Spectrum
■ Vodafone and O2 to retain their existing spectrum in the
900 MHz band.
■ Release of 2.6 GHz and 800 MHz bands for auction in late
2010.
■ Regional coverage and access obligations on all three
2x10 MHz spectrum blocks of the 800 MHz band.
■ Overall spectrum cap of 2x65 MHz per operator (in a fi ve
operator market) or 2x90 MHz in a four operator market.
■ 3G licenses to be made “indefi nite”.
With respect to spectrum refarming, spectrum negotiations with
the Independent Spectrum Broker (ISB) resulted in a fi nal report,
submitted to the UK Government in September 2009. A public
consultation by the UK Government on a Direction to Ofcom
to implement the Wireless Radio Spectrum Modernisation
Programme was issued in October 2009. The Government
made specifi c proposals in the event of market consolidation.
Next Generation Access Networks (NGAs)
■ The objective is to bring NGA to the “Final Third” (33% of the
U.K. population in less densely populated areas which will
not be covered by private initiative NGA roll-out) by 2017 at
the latest.
■ The Government will create a Next Generation Fund (NGF)
to pay for this.
■ The NGF will levy £0.50 per month on all copper lines
(including Cable) from 2010. It will raise up to 175 million
pounds sterling per year. The Treasury proposed that the levy
will also be payable on fi ber connections.
■ The Network Design and Procurement Group will be
responsible for holding tenders to deliver NGA to the “Final
Third”.
Copyrights/ unlawful file-sharing on P2P
■ Ofcom will be placed under a duty to take steps aimed at
reducing on-line copyright infringement.
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2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / FRANCE TELECOM