Arcep awards 13 private 5G licences in 3.8-4.0 GHz

French regulation Arcep has awarded three trial spectrum licenses for companies to set up private 5G networks within the 3.8-4.0 GHz band, taking its list of trialists from enterprises across France up to 13.

The band is now open to French enterprises, in accordance with the recommendations of the French government’s “industrial 5G taskforce’, which was announced on March 15 – and in line with the provisions that were made in the US with 3.55-3.7 GHz, Germany at 3.8 GHz, and the UK at 3.8-4.2 GHz.

Similar to Germany, the French concentrates on manufacturing using 5G; it also mentions usage for local government authorities, university, as well as research laboratories . The three licences that have been granted are being held by University Hospital Institute of Strasbourg, SNCF Reseau, and Capgemini.

The details of the remaining 10 trials, also within the health and energy industries are accessible (in French) on the regulator’s 5G trial platform dashboard.

A map of the holders and locations for all 13 licenses is shown in this post. NTT is testing its private 5G service for businesses in Parisot located in the south of France and its stablemate in France Transatel is licensed to test public/private 5G roaming in northern France in Puteaux. Additionally, Schneider Electric has a license in Grenoble for factory operations. Alsatis is also in Toulouse to test the European transport industry, French research organisation CEA has one in Palaiseau for the development of AR/VR solutions for Industry 4.0 and EDF is operating one at Palaiseau to test AR for energy sectors.

Below the details of the three new trials :

University Hospital Institute of Strasbourg 

Part of the Franco-German “5G-OR” project, the trial seeks to be a demonstrator for a new generation of smart operating room, using private 5G for personalised and secure minimally-invasive operations.

SNCF Réseau

The ‘5G Living Labs’ project is made up of three spaces for developing sovereign and trusted digital environments, for industry and for travellers. They are located in the city of Rennes, in the train station, in the adjacent maintenance “Technicentre” in the city centre, and in the industrial Technicentre at the airport.

Capgemini

Capgemini is enhancing its 5G Lab in Issy-les-Moulineaux with new trial capabilities for future manufacturing use cases, supplementing its 5G private network with new spectrum in the 3.8-4.0 GHz band.