The auction process for France's fourth-generation mobile spectrum is likely to be launched before early May, telecoms regulator Arcep said Friday.

Arcep wants to award the 4G spectrum before the end of the year and is currently in the process of finalizing the conditions for the auction with the government, Jean-Ludovic Silicani, the regulator's president, said at a press conference.

Once conditions for the auction are defined, a committee still has to define the price for the auction, which is expected to raise around EUR2 billion.

"If all goes well, we could imagine that the procedure will be launched by early May and spectrum should be awarded by the end of 2011," Silicani said.

Grabbing a share of the 4G spectrum is crucial for telecom operators such as France Telecom (FTE), which are under pressure to provide faster and better networks as more people use smart phones.

4G technologies such as the most commonly used long-term evolution technology will allow users to watch high-definition video and get faster download speeds on their mobile phones.

-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33140171754; ruth.bender@dowjones.com
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