Used since 1983, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) allows the Internet to work: each terminal on the network (computer, telephone, server, etc.) is addressable by an IPv4 address. This protocol offers an addressing space of nearly 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses. But the success of the Internet, the diversity of uses and the multiplication of connected objects have as a direct consequence the progressive exhaustion of these addresses. By the end of June 2018, the four major French operators (Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange, SFR) had already assigned between 88% and 99% of the IPv4 addresses they own.

Only 2.856 million public IPv4s remain available at RIPE NCC as of July 23th, 2019.

Two scenarios are now possible:

• 1: allocation of 1024 IPv4 addresses by LIR until depletion.
• 2: allocation of 1024 IPv4 addresses by LIR until the last million available IPv4 addresses, then 256 IPv4 addresses by LIR until depletion.

The most likely date for IPv4 depletion is May 6, 2020 (scenario 2).

If RIPE proposal 2019-02, allowing to limit to 256 IPv4 per LIR (scenario 1), is rejected, it will be on December 25, 2019.

On the day of the exhaustion of RIPE-NCC IPv4, the price of IPv4 on the secondary market for the purchase of already allocated addresses is expected to soar according to supply and demand. Indeed, players who have too many IPv4 addresses can sell them to those who do not have enough or none at all.

A high price that could erect an entry barrier against new market players and increase the risk of the development of an Internet split in two: IPv4 on the one hand and IPv6 on the other. As Jérémy Martin, Technical Director of Firstheberg.com explains: "With increasing demand for a fixed number of IPv4, the cost of renting an IPv4 will double in the next 2 years"

To address the shortage of IPv4 addresses, ISPs have implemented some alternative mechanisms. For example, Carrier-grade NAT (CGN) equipment allows an IPv4 address to be shared between several clients. However, they have several negative effects that make it difficult to maintain IPv4 and almost impossible to use it for a number of purposes (peer-to-peer, remote access to shared files on a NAS or connected home control systems, certain network games, etc.).

For Grégory Mounier of Europol, this can go further and "violates the privacy of many people who could be summoned in proceedings even though investigators are only interested in one suspect. In this context, only a near-total transition to IPv6 can be a sustainable response to this problem."

On the other hand, an operator buying IPv4 addresses from a foreign player takes the risk that its customers will be located outside France for many months and thus block many services.

Accelerating the transition to IPv6 is the only sustainable solution. Only a near-total mutation can allow content providers to do without IPv4.

 Read the article

Source : Arcep

The AOTA - Association of Alternative Telecommunications Operators - has just referred the matter to the Arcep to request the opening of Orange's fibre network. Indeed, the 47 members of the association complain that they do not have sufficient access to it and accuse the incumbent of anti-competitive practices.

Since they cannot build very expensive networks themselves covering the entire country, small operators must first "borrow" Orange and SFR networks. They therefore rent access to the two dominant players in the corporate telecom market and buy voice or data from them at wholesale prices. They then sell them to their own customers.

But here we are, alternative operators feel ousted from the market of companies that have not been able to "connect" enough to the Orange network. With 12.4 million outlets, the incumbent's fibre network is both very large and very capillary. Hanging on to it therefore makes it possible to target SMEs with connectivity needs on several sites or plants spread over the territory. It is precisely these customers who escape the more geographically limited members of the AOTA.

A long-standing problem linked to the lack of fibre regulation for professionals. Indeed, Orange is obliged to offer wholesale offers to small operators wishing to access the copper network (ADSL) but not on fibre. In 2017, Alternative Télécom had already demanded more openness.

However, it is impossible for Orange to open up to competition a network built with billions of investments. Small operators believe that the operator has been favoured by its historical footprint on cable, which it was able to convert very quickly to fibre. Today, Orange controls approximately 70% of the corporate fibre market.

For its part, the French Competition Authority has chosen to regulate this market by creating a third player, Kosc, to "break" the predominance of Orange-SFR. This "wholesale" operator deploys its own fibre network, which it then rents to small AOTA or Alternative Télécom operators. "Kosc is a good complement, but it's one of many solutions. And anyway, the Kosc network does not have the same capillarity as Orange," explains one of these small operators. The ball is now in the Arcep's court.

 Read the article

Source : Les Echos

The Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes is publishing the 2019 edition of its Internet Health Check in France. Submitted to Parliament, this report highlights the actions taken to ensure the openness of the Internet, looks at potential threats and presents the regulator's action to contain them.

The balance sheet in brief!

1- Quality of services
The service comparators are so inhomogeneous today that the Arcep wanted to improve them by setting up an API in the boxes containing the "access identity card" of each terminal. This will allow a much better diagnosis with reliable information on the parameters of each measurement. This API is complemented by a code of conduct. Gradually adopted by the measurement stakeholders, it makes it possible to improve the reliability, transparency and readability of the results.

2- Data interconnection
In constant evolution, this ecosystem can be the site of occasional tensions. The Arcep is vigilant in monitoring the market. It publishes data from its information collection in its annual barometer of interconnection in France. When the situation requires it, the Arcep can also become a "gendarme" and settle disputes between the actors.

3- Transition to IPV6
The end of IPV4 is now scheduled for June 2020. Operators' planned deployments of IPV6 may not be able to address the shortage of IPV4 addresses. Therefore, Arcep will organise the first working meeting of the "IPV6 Task Force" in the second half of 2019. These meetings will aim to accelerate the transition to IPV6 in France by sharing the experiences of the different actors and defining actions to be implemented

4- Net neutrality
The guidelines for the implementation of the principle of net neutrality by national regulators have generally proved their worth. The country has a positive balance sheet. However, Arcep ensures that access providers continue to adjust their practices in line with the European regulatory framework.

5- Opening of terminals
If in terms of net neutrality, the Arcep can exercise its protection on networks there is a weak link: terminals. Adopted at the beginning of this year, the European "Platform-to-business" regulation brings more transparency on the practices of online platforms towards their corporate clients. However, this regulation does not yet ensure the neutrality of terminals. Arcep made 11 concrete proposals to ensure an "end-to-end" open Internet in a report on the issue in February 2018.

 Read the report

Source : Arcep

In the fight expected from operators for the acquisition of frequencies dedicated to 5G, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts is preparing to open a new front. Indeed, last weekend Arcep reported that it had set 31 December 2022 as the maximum deadline for frequencies in the 1.5 GHz band, known as the L band.

"Today used for point-to-point links for the collection of mobile networks open to the public and professionals and by the Ministries of the Interior and Defence", its release by the end of 2022 should allow mobile operators to have more frequencies to deploy future 5G and Very High Speed networks.

"The 1.5 GHz band has been subject to European harmonisation since 2015. It has 90 MHz that can be used to meet downlink requirements. The propagation properties of these frequencies are particularly interesting for the coverage of the territory and the coverage inside buildings", said the Telecom Constable.

However, there could be many pitfalls.... Indeed, the current tenants of the band have already sent comments to the Authority during the consultation period: a disputed reallocation plan, potentially huge migration costs.

However, the decision is widely welcomed by operators who are pleased to be able to obtain new frequency blocks for the development of their future 5G networks. While the latter accept that this L-band will only be operated "for additional exclusively downlink links (in SDL mode)", it will still improve the throughput and capacity of downlinks below 1 GHz.

The spectrum available for the deployment of future 5G networks is relatively limited, so this release should be of significant interest to operators, particularly in the event of coupling with other frequency bands.

Operators are also unanimous that the entire band will not be able to operate effectively due to unfavourable neighbourhood conditions. On its adjacent bands, there are "space exploration satellite services, radio astronomy and space research services", which do not allow the use of both ends of the 1.5 GHz band. Orange has only one 85 MHz band that can be used, while Free goes further with only one 40 MHz band. For the operator, this block of frequencies constitutes "the only sub-band with a mature ecosystem today" and could even be the subject of an "immediate allocation scenario" via a reallocation of 10 MHz bands to each operator.

A scenario that will not be retained by Arcep but which illustrates the operators' appetite for this band, to the great displeasure of its current tenants. They should be required to be housed elsewhere, particularly in the 6 GHz band.

Most of these actors are industrialists and express doubts about the Arcep's decision and its implications for their own activities and finances. Questions about the economic viability of this migration on the part of EDF, for example, for whom "the estimated time required to replace 1.4 GHz links, without significantly impacting the company's performance, is around ten years".

Especially since the timetable imposed by the telecoms police officer is already causing the actors concerned to shudder. For Enedis, the deadlines proposed jointly by Brussels and Arcep "do not take into account this specific framework for the use of the 1.4 GHz band by Enedis, nor the current limits or the constraints imposed by the alternative solutions". And even one of the alternatives proposed by Arcep would involve the reconstruction of a large part of its network.

The public authorities also seem to be waiting, as does the Ministry of Transport, for whom the timetable mentioned cannot be kept. Hence the Ministry's request to maintain the current network "at least until 2027, knowing that if studies show that it is possible to have the future network available earlier, the network can be shut down before that date".

Current tenants propose other solutions such as the establishment of a "cohabitation context". This would allow L-band frequencies to be allocated to operators in dense urban areas and other actors to "continue to use Radio Beams in rural areas, which are less likely to be targeted by the need for SDL".

 Read the article

Source : ZDNet

Central data centres are connectivity relays, real marketplaces. They bring together almost all the players in the digital value chain. The challenge is therefore to know how to identify them, to be able to recognize them in order to open a PoP (Point Of Presence).

There are three types of data centers: hyperscale, edge and core. Usually organized in a loop, each one has a very specific role in the organization of an IT architecture. It is very common to see players hosting their application in a hyperscale, deploying their IT in an edge and ensuring an optimized network path by creating peering links in a core.

Central DCs have a very specific importance and are therefore becoming real performance levers that determine many infrastructure choices.

But how to identify them? The easiest way is to consult the referencing databases of network players such as PEERING DB and to search for the data centre with the largest number of members. If they have differentiating elements such as the number of members and network ports available, cushioned network equipment or an extremely wide choice of actors, it is in peering that their main attraction lies.

In a central DC everyone is on an equal footing: everyone shares data via a physical connection from point A to point B. Regardless of the nature of the interconnection: peering, direct interconnection or transit, I know that everyone is within cable distance of my rack. I will therefore benefit from clustering effect. And the effect is virtuous, the more actors a central data center brings together, the more interconnection there is, the cheaper it is.

Peering is a strong trend that is becoming essential. A study published by Arcep in 2017 related to traffic measurement among ISPs in France indicates that the data exchanged on the territory are distributed in this way: 50% for transit, 46% for private peering and 4% for public peering. The same ratios were observed by the Journal du Net in one of its central data centers. The share of transit decreases very significantly between 2017 and 2018. Public peering is growing and private peering is increasing very significantly. Three main consequences follow from this dynamic: content players will get as close as possible to end customers by bypassing hosters and forwarders in the short and medium term, freight forwarders seeing their business decline will try to recover the margins they are losing on the CDN link, and finally ISPs will try to get closer to the end customer themselves by including content in their offers.

Several good practices deserve to be shared to move to live traffic. First, start with the application. Before choosing where to host your IT, it is necessary to consider the nature of the IT. Depending on the answer, you have to organize your architecture. The challenge is to create network accesses that facilitate the user experience and reduce costs. Depending on their priority and the level of security required, the applications will therefore be divided between core, edge and hyperscale.

Secondly, how to bring the user closer to these applications? The alternative is quite simple: either use peering or direct interconnections, or put the application locally in its data center and set up a private network link to the end user.

The meaning of the story seems to be moving towards a transformation of the IT agent into a buyer. IT managers are now able to organize these outsourcing choices in these three types of data centers. Business choices therefore become business choices.

 Read the article

Source : Journal du Net

The Calls for Demonstrations of Local Commitments announced in December 2017 at the National Territories Conference were then presented by the authorities as "the possibility for local authorities to benefit from the deployment or extension of very high speed networks financed by operators' own funds".

Three of these AMELs had received a favourable opinion from the Arcep last March and an authorisation from the government. The first of these systems was finally the subject of an agreement signed on Monday between the operator Altitude Infrastructure and the Conseil départemental de la Côte-d'Or. By the end of 2022, the end of this agreement, 57,000 households will be connected by Altitude Infrastructure, including approximately 8,000 before the end of 2020. This AMEL will complement the Public Initiative Network set up by the Department to obtain 100% FttH coverage in the Côte d'Or.

Two other Calls for Demonstration of Local Commitments, in Lot-et-Garonne and in three departments of the South-PACA region operated by Orange and SFR, should follow the same path as the government announced last March. This system should "provide all French people in metropolitan France and overseas with a minimum speed of 30Mbits/s by the end of 2022" in accordance with the objectives set out in the France THD plan.

 Read the article

Source : ZDNet

As part of the 5G frequency allocation, scheduled for autumn 2019, the Arcep is continuing its work to free the 3.5 GHz band. This band has been made available to digital development players to deploy Very High Speed Radio networks. In order to identify the departments in which THD radio networks are still being considered, the Arcep is launching a public consultation.

To meet the territories' HSBB connectivity needs in the context of the France Very High Speed Plan, Arcep opened a window in December 2017 for the deployment of HSBB radio networks in the 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band. In parallel, the government and the Arcep have established to allocate new 5G frequencies in order to be launched in 2020. The Regulatory Authority must therefore allocate the 3.4 - 3.8 GHz band for the commercial deployment of 5G mobile networks.

At the end of 2018, Arcep planned to submit the applications to the THD radio counter before the end of March 2019. However, in order to free as many frequencies as possible for 5G while maintaining frequencies for THD radio networks, Arcep plans to maintain the counter for departments in which advanced projects exist. The opening of the window for these projects could be extended beyond 31 December 2019.

It is now up to Arcep to determine the territories where THD radio networks should be deployed. The purpose of this public consultation is to enable the stakeholders concerned to inform the Regulatory Authority of their project before 30 June 2019.

At the end of this consultation and taking into account the responses, the Arcep will modify the frequency allocation modalities for radio HSBB in order to integrate these calendar changes.

 Read the press release

Source : Arcep

The auction framework for obtaining 5G frequencies has just been formalised by the Government. This framework letter, signed by the Minister for Cohesion of the Territories and the Secretary of State to the Minister of Economy, should enable Arcep to develop the process.


This letter defines in particular the constraints that will weigh on the winning operators. On the one hand, on the wallet side: it is a question of finding a "balance" between making the State's frequency assets grow and preserving the operators' capacity to invest in infrastructure. While both departments agree that "valuation should leave room for network development", they ask that "price is a substantial criterion for allocations".

On the other hand, on the coverage side: the Government warns that "the commercial service will have to be launched from 2020 to cover several cities" in return for the 5G licences awarded.

However, 5G deployment obligations will not be as stringent as those imposed to extend 4G last year throughout the country.


As for companies, the Arcep will have to "ensure that the operators who will benefit from authorisation will enable vertical players to apply for and benefit from 5G services under financial and operational conditions adapted to their needs, including in sparsely populated areas of the territory".

The Government has set the bar high by asking for the best of both worlds. It remains for the Arcep to include all this in the specifications of the 5G auctions scheduled for next autumn.

 Read the article

Source : DegroupNews

The government has finally approved the deployment of its first three Calls for Local Commitments (AMELs), representing 465,000 additional FTTH outlets by 2023. "After a favourable opinion from Arcep, the government has accepted the commitments made by operators under Article L, 33-13 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code to provide optical fibre coverage to subscribers (FTTH) in the rural areas of the Côte d'Or (Altitude Infrastructure), Lot-et-Garonne (Orange) and 3 of the departments of the South PACA region (SFR)" said the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities at the end of last week.

Announced at the National Territories Conference in December 2017, these AMEL zones were presented as "the opportunity for local authorities to benefit from the deployment or extension of very high speed networks financed by operators' own funds". The objective is to provide around 1.5 million households in rural areas with broadband and very high speed broadband while giving local authorities the opportunity to directly involve private operators.

These first three MELAs have yet to be confirmed by a ministerial order in order to make the commitments "binding and enforceable, exposing operators to financial penalties if they fail to comply".

Last April, some associations of local authorities regretted the delay in the deployment of AMEL zones. This slingshot could therefore have borne fruit... Especially since the government has already indicated the organization of a meeting with "operators and associations of local authorities in order to draw an assessment of this system". It even invites "operators to finalise their proposals as soon as possible, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned".

A boost for the deployment of these AMEL zones and more generally for the France THD Plan, which aims to cover the entire country in very high bandwidth by 2022.

 Read the article

Source : ZDNet

In an interview with the Opinion, the President of the French Telecommunications Regulatory Authority gave an update on the upcoming arrival of 5G, the audiovisual law and the need to modernise European competition law.

For Sébastien Soriano, manufacturers will be at the heart of the 5G award even if they will not be part of the licensing process. Indeed, it is "all the actors of the economy who will in the future be users of networks linked to the Internet of Things (IoT)". But it is up to the Telecom sector to enable this evolution. "Today, operators are focused on standard offers. Their core business is the consumer market, not the corporate market, and the future is certainly there". Especially since companies do not yet seem ready for this frequency. "Last year, the Arcep offered them the possibility of making pilots in 5G, without much success. In the short term, it is therefore not a bad thing to reserve 5G for major telecom operators. Our bet is that they will change the way they work and make tailor-made solutions to meet the needs of companies. They didn't do it with 4G, which is what many large groups complain about". It is possible to imagine that 5G licences could be granted to telecoms operators in return for obligations or commitments to improve their offers to companies. "Tomorrow the Arcep could become an arbitrator in charge of settling disputes between operators and their customers concerning the relevance of the offers of the former to the demands of the latter". Contrary to popular belief, France is not falling behind in 5G. This one is still planned for next year. "The government is in the process of completing its scoping letter. For our part, we will put our draft procedure, including the operator-business relationship, out for consultation at the end of May/beginning of June. By the end of the year, operators will know how many 5G frequencies they each have, their costs and the obligations attached to them".

According to him, the audiovisual sector, in the midst of a transition, will probably no longer control its distribution network in the long term. Just like the car of tomorrow, the television set could be transformed into a voice assistant. "The audiovisual sector must be able to access the 5G services of telecom operators, such as SNCF or Carrefour, and we can even imagine an appropriate obligation for this specific sector and everything related to culture and pluralism [...] All companies must have access to these infrastructures and of course the audiovisual sector. In addition, I think that this would allow this sector to deal more calmly with the question of the future of DTT if it has access to 5G". Having defended the operators in their conflict with TF1 last year, he believes that "it is the big chains that manage to extract value from these negotiations, which raises a question about pluralism. The audiovisual law could provide a framework where we are currently in a purely commercial negotiation. I am confident that the law will provide a framework with flexible, non-discriminatory, reasonable and cost-reflective rules".

Regarding a possible consolidation of Telecom in France, the President of the Arcep is firm. "There is no news on this subject. Arcep's priority is investment [...] We have reached a model in which prices are attractive to the customer and investment capacity is high: these expenses have increased by 37% in three years, to nearly 10 billion euros annually. Why change a model that works? " However, Mr. Soriano considers that this is not enough to resist the Gafa and the takeover of new intermediaries. "In the long run, the end customer may no longer have to deal with the telecom operator. The latter would become a simple supplier of commodities to smartphone manufacturers, who would then take over margins and customer relations. [...] This is a global risk and an additional reason to focus on terminal regulation". For him, competition law could solve this problem provided that it "is part of a clear vision of the economy and globalization. For this to happen, competition law must be adapted to the economy of the 21st century. Today, in a growing number of sectors, the challenge is to concentrate the strike force (market share, data, R&D, rare talents, etc.) to increase scale effects. To meet this challenge, European competition law must be more concerned with innovation". According to the interviewee, there are two possibilities: to make access to structuring innovation platforms non-discriminatory and to ensure that they are openly accessible to the European ecosystem. "The second challenge is to create scale effects to participate in global competition. ...] In a targeted way, competition law must make it possible to find a compromise on these technological and innovation issues".

 Read the article

Source : L'Opinion

In order to launch the new generation of mobile networks, operators must be allocated frequencies by the end of the year. The first 5G antennas will thus be able to flourish and the flow rates will explode as early as 2020.

Across Europe, the 5G flagship band is the one between 3.4 GHz and 3.8 GHz - 400 MHz theoretically available to operators to water their customers with high-speed Internet.

The only problem is that, in France, this strip is already partially occupied by tenants who have no desire to empty the premises before the end of their lease in 2026. Among these cumbersome tenants are the Wimax licensees. This radio technology from the early 2000s was intended to provide broadband in rural areas through dedicated radio antennas.

A household is required and concerns two actors who are seated on 30MHz each: Bolloré Télécom (now Wifirst) throughout France and SFR in Ile-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Arcep cannot therefore revoke their rights of use, even though frequencies are crucial for 5G. And Bolloré knows it. He is ideally placed today to recover. All he has to do is wait. The manufacturer can sit on it until 2026, use it himself to make 5G or even rent these frequencies to a third party.

But to make matters worse, the Arcep cut the 5G gang again a few months ago. The Telecom Constable has dedicated 50 MHz of his 400 MHz stock to "THD Radio" as part of the government plan to provide Very High Speed Internet access to all French people by 2022. And this until 2026.

On the Arcep side, it is stated that "there are no difficulties". Embarrassed, however, the regulator explained to Les Echos last summer that there could well be "only" 280 MHz of spectrum to auction... 30% less than the 400 MHz identified by Europe. Since the Authority has been studying its options, but nothing is moving.

 Read the article

Source : Les Echos.fr

Arcep has opened a window to allow local authorities to obtain THD radio frequencies and thus deploy this technology on their territories. The challenge is to be able to offer very high speed (minimum 30 Mb/s) to households with the lowest ADSL coverage and promised a late arrival of optical fibre. According to InfraNum, some 2.2 million households will be affected by 2022.


But here we are, only a handful of local authorities have obtained or requested dedicated frequencies. Indeed, the Federation reports a "deployment of the THD radio [...] under study or confirmed for nearly 40 departments" and notes that to date a "dozen departments" have not initiated any action.


InfraNum therefore sounds the alarm and asks Arcep to extend the opening of the THD radio counter by one year. The objective is to have more time to convince these communities to opt for a wireless solution. If other solutions exist, such as 4G setting up major national operators, the Federation warns that it will "not support, in addition, specific domestic or professional uses". And the prospect of a fixed 5G service is no more to be considered "waiting for its arrival to meet an immediate need for very high fixed broadband in rural areas is a decoy" warns Etienne Dugas, President of InfraNum....

Read the article

Source : DegroupNews

By publishing this barometer of data interconnection in France 2018, the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (Arcep) proposes to popularize the subject in order to better understand the state and developments of this market.

The first part of this report presents this ecosystem of the Internet: what is the purpose of data interconnection, who are the main actors, how are they interconnected, what are the issues and modes of interconnection, etc.

In the second part, the Arcep makes an inventory of the interconnection situation in France. The data collected are aggregated results for the period from the first half of 2012 to the first half of 2018. They thus make it possible to see the growth of incoming and outgoing traffic, the increase in installed capacity, the evolution of interconnection methods, the distribution of traffic by interconnection mode, the breakdown of traffic by origin and the range of current tariffs.

 Read the article

Source : Arcep

Among more than 35,000 municipalities in France, 541 still have no access to the Internet, even though it is now a necessity. The government has therefore set itself the goal of "getting rid of these white areas" by announcing broadband and very high speed access for all by 2022. Things seem to be moving in this direction with the "new mobile deal" concluded between the State and ARCEP to accelerate mobile coverage of territories or the compromise between SFR and Orange on the development of fibre in less dense areas.

Arnaud Bousquet proposes to review this digital divide in the 31th July radio programme Le téléphone sonne on France Inter. To answer the Internet question, mobile telephony: when will the white zones end? he receives Martine Lombard, member of the ARCEP college, Michel Combot, Director General of the Fédération Française des Télécoms and Sébastien Dufromentel, secretary of the Fédération FDN.

Listen to the show

The white zone concept only concerned mobile telephony and currently represents only 1% of the territory. Today, it also includes Internet access. To enable everyone to access this technology, more than 20 billion euros will be invested in the France Très Haut Débit plan.

For most people in these dense areas, it is not a choice not to use the Internet, it is a technical impossibility. The testimonies of various listeners from the Lot, the Hérault or even the Loire-et-Cher are quite appalling. Some have to travel several kilometres to have an Internet connection or pay a monthly subscription but only manage to connect once a week. Others, a little luckier, have an ADSL connection but very low and must therefore invest in additional equipment with a very irregular speed. The elected representatives also call on the operators to improve this connectivity wherever we go, work or live. However, there are other ways to connect like 4G, 5G or radio bridges. These transition technologies are deployed by the operators while waiting for the optical fiber.

If at the beginning of the 2000s, France had no delay for the deployment of ADSL, the same cannot be said for very high speed broadband. One of the reasons is that the major operators have prioritised their infrastructures at the expense of FTTH (fibre to the subscriber's home). Regulatory requirement is another such factor. However, France remains globally ahead in terms of optical fiber in Europe thanks to its investments over the last ten years.

Technical questions arise for the integral fibering of the population. In France, 40% of households do not have an address or number, although a house numbering plan is required for each commune. This plan speeds up the fibering process and limits the risk of errors during the optical fibre connection.

However, white areas are not limited to rural areas. Connecting to the Internet remains difficult or even impossible on public transport or rail networks. The equipment and coverage of the transport axes is an important point of the January agreement between the government and the operators. One of the objectives set is to cover 90% of the regional rail network in 4G by 2025.

This raises the question of equipment priority setting. Why do we choose to equip a city that already has 4G with optical fibre rather than a city where there is no Internet access? It is the local authorities that are supposed to define the priorities. But most local authorities, via the Public Initiative Networks, let the commercial operator decide which areas to equip. The economic development of the regions now depends on the development of the territory in digital infrastructures to be able to work and develop its trade.

This "digital new deal" is an important government commitment. The State is making efforts and is thus renouncing the financial auction of frequency allocations, i.e. around 3 billion euros. But in return, operators commit to invest these sums, or even more, in improving the mobile network with general commitments: transform all 3G sites into 4G, cover 55,000 km of road network by the end of 2020, create 5,000 sites each with mutualization to fundamentally remedy the mobile disparity.

A listener from Deux-Sèvres raises the question of the network's obsolescence. In rural areas, most subscribers have access to the Internet via ADSL via the telephone network installed over 40 years ago. However, the use of this network has its limits since the flow decreases with distance. Optical fibre is particularly suitable for these areas since the throughput remains the same whatever the distance. The choice of this technology is therefore justified, but it is still necessary to find the investments to deploy it. It is also necessary that the operators who lay the fibre do not keep it for their own profit. Indeed, this would lead to foreclosure for small ISPs and only large operators could operate.

The removal of these white areas can pose a problem for so-called electro-hypersensitive people since they are currently refuge areas. But how to face these contradictory wills because if certain people refuse Internet by principle or because of their health, it is a very strong stake in particular against the rural desertification of the youngest.

The digital divide can also be transposed to Overseas France. For example, in French Guiana less than 7% of the territory is covered by 4G. Only the coastal areas have good coverage, the rest of the department has no 4G access but these areas have a low human density. Investment efforts have been made by local authorities and operators in Overseas France, but more remains to be done, particularly in French Guiana.

Listen to the show

Source : France Inter

Discover the practices and needs in telecommunication of companies and download the guide developed by Arcep and its partners, the MEDEF, CPME and AFUTT, aimed at the TPE-SME to help them understand the market, define their needs and find the criteria of choice of an offer regarding telecoms.