You come to chair the Arcep for six years

After six years in the Presidency of the regulatory authority for electronic communications and posts (Arcep), Paul Champsaur arrives at the end of its mandate. Early January, he will be replaced by the counsel of State Jean-Claude Mallet, 53, who was General Secretary of national defence. In an interview with the "Echos", Paul Champsaur returns to action at the head of the Constable of telecoms as well as on thorny issues which he left to his successor: the fourth mobile license and deployment of fibre optic networks. Considering the need to "reserve a portion of the frequency to a new entrant" and "bring the barriers to entry", Paul Champsaur j. Free should go to the mobile market to make "convergent offers...

You come to chair the Arcep for six years. What is your pride

Without hesitation the takeoff of broadband: in a few years, we have moved ahead of curve on innovation, new services and use. The France is the highest world level of penetration of the Internet broadband, well before the United States. The market is strongly developed under the effect of dynamic competition. It is the role of the regulator to anticipate technological developments and to emerging new players who want to invest. Arcep has implemented a robust policy of unbundling the last mile of France Telecom network. Because of this, the competition may have developed, has innovated with the "box" and practiced attractive prices. Three quarters of the French can now access in unbundling the network of Iliad the mother House of Free, Editor's note and nine acquired by SFR, Editor's note. I note that the operators who were willing to invest are the only to be left on the market.

The record of the fourth licence drags in length. Regret that the Government had not acted more quickly

I regret nothing because everything is open and I trust the public authorities to make a good decision on this dossier. I support a procedure where we reserve, in a first step, a portion of the frequency to a new entrant. The France is the only large European country where there is only three mobile operators. It must break down the barriers to entry in the mobile, as could be in the fixed. Bouygues Telecom comes to enter the market of fixed broadband. Conversely be possible. Free and Numericable must be present in the mobile to the convergent offers. Because, in the future, competition will be between integrated operators fixed mobile. However, today, the conditions made virtual mobile operators (MVNO) cannot be accepted by fixed operators Numericable signed an agreement of MVNO with Bouygues Telecom, Editor's note. The objective of the fourth mobile license is not a fourth "pure" mobile operator input would be very difficult but the Equalization of the conditions of competition between fixed and mobile operators in the context of convergence and therefore fixed actors term survival.

Fiber will be one of the thorny folders that your successor will have to manage. He would what advice you

I have no advice to give, but it's true that 2009 will be a year key during which the regulator and the Government will have to deal actively with this issue. This is not simple because all players advance with ulterior are not all technological. A Steering Committee has been established to bring back to the negotiating table. We must now experiment with the various technical solutions and jump the last locks in the semester that comes. A priori, the idea defended by Free, Editor's note to place several fibres in a building so that each operator directly access to the final client appears to be a compromise solution. It gives the maximum of freedom everyone for an additional cost which appears limited. It is the technical choice which comes to be accepted by the Swiss operator Swisscom.

Barack Obama has provided massive public investment in motorways of information and universal access to broadband. Should the France do the same

To be effective, a stimulus plan must be fast. In this perspective, talk about the optical fiber is off-topic because it requires investments on a decade. Moreover, I do not think that the State is able to make appropriate technology choices all the time and everywhere. It has set for objective 4 million French have access to the Internet at very high speed in 2012. The goal is reasonable. If the State wants to go faster, it is on local and regional authorities should be supported. Finally, the telecoms sector is a little cyclical industry and is no shortage of money. The income of operators model is enough recurrent and they are not the first affected by the crisis. Therefore, it is not a sector in which the State must rush to invest. To encourage investment, it is sufficient to assign the fourth licence. There, the operators are going to invest!

The Government initiated a reflection on the involvement of the transition to all-digital for the two regulators: the audiovisual (CSA) and telecoms (Arcep). What do you think

Arcep has no control over the content and does not seek to have. But all sorts of content now spend on telecom networks while the importance of the wireless network is in decline. Therefore, the logic of the regulation of the media in France through the frequencies (inherited from analog TV) will have to run be called into question. The CSA is a societal regulator, protector of civil liberties. It must reflect on the instruments necessary to his mission control. The allocation of frequencies to channels is no longer a relevant instrument. In a context of increasing shortage of spectrum for wireless services, it is normal that the State reflect a better use of such public goods for economic development. And there is a question of competition on leverage between media and telecoms sectors: If we are not take care, there is a risk of vertically integrated dominant operator which would make some contained "premium" available only to customers on their network. I do not think that this perspective be good for the market or the society. But I think the Council of competition perfectly capable of addressing the subject.

You will have sixty-five years on January 6. You get ready for an active retirement

It is not the proposals lacking! The Government has given me the chairmanship of a commission on electricity tariffs. In addition, I will preside over a high authority of the statistics, which will be independent and structures as the Insee.