The ANFR is in charge of drawing up and updating the national frequency allocation table (TNRBF), the basic radio spectrum management tool that specifies the frequency bands and services to which State administrations and independent administrative authorities, the assigning authorities, have access in order to carry out their missions.
The national frequency allocation table (TNRBF) therefore plays a central role in frequency planning at the national level. It is a strategic planning tool for the use of the public "spectrum" resource.
Indeed, decisions on the allocation of frequency bands require a comprehensive and concerted understanding of the medium- and long-term issues surrounding the radio “spectrum” resource. This is one of the objectives of the institutional organisation set up in France, in which spectrum planning decisions are coordinated by the ANFR, leaving the market mechanisms at work in the bands open to electronic communication services according to the specific arrangements defined for a given band.
Frequency bands are allocated for the benefit of the state assignment authorities which represent the needs of the armed forces, the Home Office, Ministries in charge of, maritime and aeronautical transport, meteorology, research and space, as well as the independent administrative authorities, the Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques, des postes et de la distribution de la presse (Arcep) and the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (Arcom). Access to frequency bands is provided, for its own use, in the case of a ministerial department, or with a view to the assignment of frequencies to third parties in the case of independent administrative authorities.
For each radio frequency band, the TNRBF specifies the service or services allocated in France and the assignment authorities that have access to these services. It sets out the rights and obligations of the assigning authorities and the main rules to be applied for the coordination and registration of frequency assignments. The radiocommunication service can be on a primary or secondary basis, in accordance with the principles set out in the RR. For access to primary services, the hierarchy between assignment authorities is governed by the notion of status (Exclusive, Priority or Equal). Footnotes and appendices explain the specific sharing arrangements for certain frequency bands.
The rules set out in the TNRBF are applicable throughout mainland France and in the listed overseas departments and territories. They vary depending on the region (Region 1, 2 or 3 as defined by the ITU) to which those territories belong. They apply to New Caledonia, French Polynesia, the Wallis and Futuna Islands and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories subject to specific provisions.
Updates to the TNRBF are prepared within the commission for spectrum evolution (CES). They are the subject of a decision by the ANFR Board of Directors and forwarded to the Prime Minister, who publishes a decree after consulting the Arcom and Arcep.
Some of the information in the TNRBF is used to update the national information available in the European database (EFIS).