Last November, the European Commission approved the acquisition of Covage by SFR FttH. The company is now called Xp Fibre and has a portfolio of 7 million fiber optic connections. It includes 24 Public Initiative Networks (PINs), operated under public service delegations (PSDs); five AMEL zones and two proprietary networks; and 2.6 million outlets in AMII zones.

Its role remains broadly the same as that of SFR FttH, i.e., network deployment, operation and marketing of its own outlets, or through public partnerships, depending on the areas to be equipped.

In detail, SFR FttH already had 5.5 million outlets throughout France, notably through 16 public service partnerships, three AMEL zones and the AMII zone. With this acquisition, Xp Fibre now has 8 DSPs and 4 proprietary networks (including two AMEL).

Each of the deployment areas will benefit from a fiber optic network open to all commercial operators, Xp Fibre being an infrastructure operator. The general public, businesses and local authorities will all be able to subscribe to the access provider of their choice.

"The new entity, made up of the assets of SFR FttH and those resulting from the acquisition of Covage, gives rise to a new, even more ambitious player in the field of fiber for territories and a key player for commercial operators," commented Lionel Recorbet, President of Xp Fibre.

The capital of the new entity remains composed of the Canadian fund OMERS (one of the main defined benefit pension plans in Canada), Altice France and the infrastructure funds of the Axa and Allianz groups, as was that of SFR FttH.

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Source : Clubic

In July 2020, Free approached the Arcep, asking it to specify the conditions of access for market players to SFR's FttH network in less dense private initiative zones (AMII). Iliad's subsidiary demanded that SFR's tariffs for access to the terminal part of its network be regulated, limiting any increase to the indexation provided for in the mutualization contract between the two operators and making any change beyond this scale subject to the signature of a rider "negotiated in good faith".

This is a hot topic, because already last April, the Arcep said it was ready to put the "points on the i's" in the issue of the increase in connection rates to SFR's fiber network in private areas. In fact, the Authority had already demanded from the mark with the red square the cancellation of the increase in its tariffs in force since the beginning of the year 2020 after having been seized by Bouygues Telecom last winter.

Free, which therefore demanded the revision of the co-financing rates demanded by SFR, in the AMII zone, so that they do not exceed €5.12 per line and per month (or €513.6 per line for the non-recurring rate) for a co-financing up to 20%.

This request was accepted by Arcep, which asked SFR to adjust its tariffs in the AMII zones but also in the AMEL zones. The Gendarme des Télécoms justifies this position by stating that SFR's infrastructure branch "has not produced any specific elements that would allow it to understand its costs" and believes that increases in access tariffs must "be justified by cost elements".

As in the dispute between Bouygues Telecom and SFR, the Arcep has enjoined the brand with the red square to return to its co-financing rates applied before February 2020. However, it has the possibility of adjusting them in a much more modest manner by means of an amendment. This decision was eagerly awaited by certain players in the sector, for whom the survival of the principle of sharing the terminal part of the Orange and SFR fiber networks, in force since 2008, was at stake.

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Source : ZDNet

One month after the validation by Arcep, the contract was finally signed between the department and Savoie Connectée. This transaction comes two years after the departmental council terminated its contract with Axione, a Bouygues subsidiary. At the time, an investment of €223 million was planned: €63 million financed by local authorities and €70 million provided by the region, the State and the European Union.

In 2017, elected officials from the Maurienne had entrusted Fibréa with the installation of its own fibre optic network. The departmental council then accused the latter of having unbalanced the public service delegation concluded with Axione. Mauritian elected officials said they had had enough of waiting for the department to deploy the fibre. They had therefore taken charge of it themselves to ensure the development of their territory.

A few months after the termination, the government proposed to local authorities to deploy AMELs to accelerate the installation of optical fibre in rural areas. A system enabling departmental councils to have the deployment financed from operators' own funds.

The Savoie department has therefore chosen this framework to deploy its fibre optic network in rural areas. And it is Savoie Connectée that finances the cost of the works, relying on its shareholders (Covage with 70% of the capital and Orange with 30%). Within four years, 255,000 sockets will have to be connected in 243 municipalities in Savoie. Almost the entire territory of the department will then be connected to very high bandwidth.

The operation is not new for Covage since the operator operates the DSP for optical fibre in 246 municipalities in Haute-Savoie. And he was also awarded an AMEL in Saône-et-Loire.

This eliminates the need for the department to worry about funding and shortens the deployment time. The maturity date is 2023 instead of 2026 in the terminated contract with Axione. However, the departmental council will have paid 6.8 million euros in compensation to Axione to free itself.

A year ago, Covage acquired Fibréa, the company that has wired nearly 500 kilometres of optical fibre in the Maurienne. Therefore, the repetition of the scenario from the previous contract is ruled out. "This avoids any subsequent conflict," agrees Hervé Gaymard, president of the Savoie County Council.

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Source : La Tribune

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.

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Source : ZDNet

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.

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Source : ZDNet