Luxembourg, 04/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling returned on Wednesday 4 July (case T-475/04), the Court of First Instance Tribunal ruled that the French state did not infringe the EC Treaty in its method for the issuing of third generation mobile telephone communication licences.
In 2000, the French government attracted only two candidates to roll out the mobile telephone and wireless systems (UMTS, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) of the third generation (also known as 3G). In July 2001, the suppliers Société française du radiotéléphone (SFR) and Orange France SA (Orange) were duly granted operating licences at levels close to €5 billion apiece, and the minister for telecommunications launched a new call for applicants, with a view to issuing to additional licenses. In December 2002, the deputy minister for industry awarded a 3G licence to Bouygues Télécom SA (“Bouygues”, France), the only other candidate, for a price of €619 million. But Bouygues was unable to derive any benefit from this difference in cost, as the minister, in order to treat all competitors equally, then revised the terms of the two other licences to bring them down to the same level as the licence granted to Bouygues. Bouygues then tried to claim that this price revision constituted illegal state aid; but the measure was approved by the Commission in its decision “State aid NN 42/2004”, in which it takes the view that the French authorities were merely respecting the application of non-discriminatory competition conditions. Bouygues went on to argue that the case should have merited formal proceedings; but the Court took the view, in the present ruling, that these proceedings were not required in the case. Bouygues now has two months to appeal. A representative of the company's legal services was unable to confirm the company's intentions until after a careful examination of the ruling. (cd)