This is the end of the 5G auctions which will ultimately only bring in 2.8 billion euros to the State.

Nicolas Barré takes stock of a current economic issue.

The auction of 5G frequencies ended on Thursday, it was quick and the telecom operators are doing well.

If it was necessary to designate a loser in these auctions, it would be the State since the sale of the famous frequencies will bring it only 2.8 billion euros.

We are in the low range of what the state could hope for.

This is good news for operators, on the other hand, and in particular for Orange, which has won more frequencies than its competitors and for not very expensive.

And after all, since the state is a 23% shareholder of Orange, it's not such a bad deal.

In fact, everyone wins?

It's a bit like that.

Our four operators, Orange, Bouygues, SFR and Free, have increased the size of their network for a reasonable price, it is important to stress this, compared to what their foreign competitors paid.

In Germany, operators paid 20% more.

In Italy, the worst example, they paid three times as much.

It is good for the State but catastrophic for the development of this technology.

Because the purchase of frequencies is only the first step in a long road.

The deployment of networks in the territory is a huge project.

Each operator, that is part of the specifications, will have to set up 3,000 new antennas next year, 8,000 the following year and 12,000 in 2025. At 200,000 euros the antenna, we quickly reach several billion euros.

Where more expensive mobile plans?

Yes, especially since we are one of the countries in Europe where these packages are the cheapest currently.

We must therefore expect prices to increase, this is the well-understood interest of the four operators who are no longer in the logic of the price war that prevailed a few years ago.

However, the issue of 5G is elsewhere.

It is a way to better organize industrial production, better manage the flow of goods, trucks, allow the development of autonomous cars, etc.

5G is less made for consumers than for manufacturers.

It will improve production methods, for example by using less energy, we tend to forget that.

It is a productivity tool, in short the opposite of a gadget that would only be used to watch videos.