Notice of March 27, 2012 on a draft decree amending decree no. 2006-502 of May 3, 2006 creating the strategic committee for digital technology

On March 2, 2012, the French Superior Audiovisual Council was asked to give its opinion on a draft decree amending decree no. 2006-502 of May 3, 2006 creating the strategic committee for digital, pursuant to article 9 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication.

After deliberation at its plenary meeting on March 27, 2012, it issued a favorable opinion, subject to the following reservations.

Digital terrestrial television (DTT), whose success in France is indisputable, must continue to adapt to viewers' requirements. In view of the scarcity of radioelectric resources, the diffusion of all channels in high definition, the development of interactivity and mobility, and the continued improvement in image and sound quality (three-dimensional broadcasts, ultra-high definition), all justify the need to migrate, when the time comes, to even higher-performance diffusion and signal compression norms than those used today. Supporting viewers through these extremely rapid and far-reaching technological changes will be one of the core concerns of the Strategic Digital Committee, as made provision for in Article 1, 2° of the draft decree.

However, the Board regrets that the draft decree's objective of migrating to the most efficient standards possible, enabling optimal use of frequencies, only concerns radio broadcasting. This objective should be shared by all users of the radio spectrum. For example, a large proportion of the bands currently allocated to the mobile electronic communications sector are still used by GSM, a second-generation (2G) technology dating back to the 1990s. A significant gain in efficiency could be achieved if this technology were to be phased out more quickly, in favor of the latest-generation norms (4G in particular). In particular, the GSM 900 MHz band, whose physical characteristics are very similar to those of the 800 MHz band previously used for radio broadcasting (good propagation for coverage of rural areas, good penetration inside buildings), should be given priority treatment.

The Board therefore requests that Article 1, 2° of the draft decree be reworded as follows, so that the work of the Strategic Digital Committee can focus on improving spectrum efficiency for all electronic communications networks.

"The Strategic Digital Committee [...] is responsible for [...].

2° coordinating the actions required to modernise digital terrestrial television broadcasting on electronic communications networks through the adoption and implementation of new broadcasting and radio coding norms, particularly in frequencies below 1 GHz."

In addition, the council notes that much of the growth in traffic in the mobile electronic communications sector will be linked to the consumption of video (1) (linear and non-linear audiovisual content). It would therefore seem legitimate for the strategic committee for digital technology to examine the prospects offered by the terrestrial hertzian diffusion platform, and more particularly its development towards mobility, for users of mobile terminals (smartphones, tablets, etc.). Enabling such equipment to receive the services shown on DTT, or even to use part of the DTT multiplex resources to receive certain non-linear audio and video content (2), could prove effective in relieving some of the burden on mobile networks.

Similarly, the role of "WiFi" and, in the near future, of so-called "femtocell" solutions in handling part of the mobile traffic to fixed networks (broadband, cable, fiber) should be carefully examined. In fact, usage in truly mobile situations seems to be less frequent than wireless usage at home or in the workplace. The latter even account for the majority of mobile terminal usage (3). However, homes and workplaces are increasingly connected to a fixed broadband network. As a result, a significant proportion of the traffic generated by mobile users at home or at work could potentially be offloaded to fixed-line networks, for example, using a "WiFi" connection or "femtocell" technology (associated with mobile operator modems as part of "multiplay" supplies).

These questions seem all the more legitimate given that at European level, as part of the activities of the RSPG (4), the European Commission has submitted a draft "request for opinion" proposing that Member States work on these two subjects in particular, namely the possibilities of offloading mobile electronic communications traffic to fixed networks and to the terrestrial television platform.

Lastly, the council proposes that, in addition to its forward-looking reflection on the possibilities for reallocating frequencies, the Digital Strategy Committee should examine the prospects offered by new methods of accessing spectrum based on resource sharing: radio broadcasting white spaces, cognitive radio, mutualization between operators, the "APL (5)" authorization system, and so on. Initial work on these subjects at European level (e.g. the RSPG report [6] of November 2011) and in France could provide a starting point.

The Board therefore proposes that Article 1° of the draft decree be amended as follows.

"The Strategic Digital Committee [...] is responsible for :

1° Defining guidelines to ensure optimal allocation of radio frequencies in light of the economic, cultural and strategic challenges involved, in particular by examining solutions for shared access to the spectrum, as well as complementarities of use between the various electronic communications networks."

This notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Paris, March 27, 2012.


For the Board of Governors
de l'audiovisuel :
The Chairman,
M. Boyon

(1) According to a Cisco study, by 2015, video will account for over 60% of global mobile traffic. (2) Content will be "pushed" and stored in the mobile terminal's statement of case. (3) According to a Cisco study, 40% of mobile data usage takes place at home, 25% in the workplace, and only 35% in actual mobile situations. (4) Radio Spectrum Policy Group, an advisory group of high-level government experts from EU member states, advises the European Commission on strategic spectrum challenges. (5) Licensed shared access (LSA) to radio frequencies for mobile service networks (e.g., dynamic sharing on a geographic or temporal basis with individual authorizations). (6) Report entitled "Collective use of spectrum and other approaches to spectrum sharing".