The ANFR is in charge of drawing up and updating the national frequency band assignment table (TNRBF), the basic 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 band assignment 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 assignment of frequency bands require a comprehensive and concerted understanding of the medium- and long-term issues surrounding the “spectrum” resource. This is one of the objectives of the institutional organisation set up in France, in which 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 distributed for the benefit of the state assignment authorities which represent the needs of the armed forces, the Ministry of the interior, 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 one or more 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 an independent administrative authority.
For each radio frequency band, the TNRBF specifies the service or services assigned 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 service assignments can be of primary or secondary category, 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 special procedures.
Updates to the TNRBF are prepared by the Commission for Spectrum Changes (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).