France’s mobile operators will be bidding for more 3G spectrum later this year when two lots of 5 MHz spectrum go up for auction. The deadline for bids is May 11, according to Dow Jones Newswires, and operators will have to pay a minimum of EUR120 million for each of the lots, which support 3G services.

The move is topical in light of the forthcoming entrance into the market of Iliad’s Free Mobile, which won a 3G licence in December for EUR240 million. Iliad will join France Telecom’s Orange, Vivendi’s SFR and Bouygues’ Bouygues Telecom in the market. Iliad was successful in securing one of the three lots that the country’s regulator, ARCEP, had initially put up for sale, and the regulator now plans to offer the other two lots to any of the four operators. The country’s three incumbent operators paid around EUR620 million each for a full 15MHz of 3G spectrum a few years ago, so the country believes the lower prices for a single lot of 5MHz are a reasonable sum.