Over the past two or three years, the acceleration in fiber deployment has been clear, but the hardest part remains to be done: connecting the least dense areas of the territory. Despite the government's efforts - generalization of fiber by 2025 by mobilizing nearly 300 million euros to support the latest projects not yet funded - the account is not there. The reason: to serve scattered housing or isolated businesses, the cost of so-called long connections is very high and for some, it may even be prohibitive.

The answer must emerge from "negotiations with the various local authorities on the financing of their projects, with major demands that may not be able to be met exactly," explains Cédric O. Indeed, the Secretary of State wants "to match needs and subsidies to achieve the goal of 100% fiber in 2025. For the specifications, we'll see afterwards".

Non-standard connections are also available in less dense areas of private initiative. The question of the effective availability of fiber arises for homes and businesses that are isolated and/or difficult to serve. This is the case in the AMII zone, where Orange and SFR's commitment was to make 100% of premises connectable by the end of 2020. Including 8% on request because they are considered more complex to serve or not a priority.

If the health crisis has pushed back the deadline for these commitments, they will finally be reached in 2021 according to Nicolas Guérin, Secretary General of the French Federation of Telecoms. For Arcep, it is the responsibility of the State to ensure this. For Sébastien Soriano, President of the Regulatory Authority, "no worries" about SFR's compliance with the deadlines. However, he believes that there is "a landing point to be built with Orange".

A common ground could be found on the launch of offers for premises that can be connected on demand. This would enable a little over one million homes and businesses "set aside" during the initial deployment schedule to be connected within six months of the order being placed with an access provider. Nicolas Guérin, also Orange's General Secretary, explains that after having made massive deployment, the incumbent operator is now able to "move to a more qualitative deployment".

On the Arcep side, where "procedures are under way" to gauge operators' compliance with completeness rules, we are waiting to see if these offers will enable us to respond to the problems identified. In any case, Sébastien Soriano considers it desirable that these on-demand connection offers should first arrive in areas that have been scheduled for more than five years - and sometimes much longer - and where 100% of the premises are not yet connectable.

The question of the durability of the FttH networks also arises, particularly concerning the connection in Stoc mode. Access providers want to connect their customers themselves. While network operators are not against this, they are concerned about connection failures and the damage this causes. Both parties are not desperate to find new agreements before the end of the year, in order to clarify the responsibilities of each party.

All of this is under the watchful eye of the communities that own the public-initiative networks. If it is not surprising to hear elected officials thundering against the Stoc mode; it is more surprising to see a member of the government raising his voice on this very operational issue. "It's not possible," Cédric O. hammered out, "We are in the process of ruining what we are achieving" by strongly encouraging those concerned to solve the problem: "Either we know how to solve it intelligently between people of good will, or the State will have to make more complicated decisions, even if it means causing inconveniences in the system".

Stakeholders therefore no longer seem to have much leeway to save the Stoc mode. And to achieve this, the representative federations - InfraNum for the networks, the FTT for the operators - need to get around the table, thus pleading the case of several players in the ecosystem. This is also the opinion of Benoît Loutrel, commissioned by the French Secretary of State for the Digital Economy to study "securing the deployment and operating conditions for FttH networks". His task will be to re-examine the France THD program. The report he will produce in a year's time will "not be intended to put pressure on this or that actor, but rather to problematize and find a method", warns the interested party. It will propose ways to "transfer learning feedback" between territories, to "organize the interplay between public authorities and industry", and finally to "anticipate the resilience of networks".

On this last point, while burying is a common sense choice in the West Indies, it is no less relevant in metropolitan France.Climate risks also weigh on an air deployment that is anything but marginal, argues the Bank of the Territories. As part of its recovery plan, it plans to allocate additional resources to support local authorities in their landfill projects and secure access to major network sites. To this end, a call for projects will be launched in 2021.

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Source : DegroupTest

For 18 months now, the Association of Local Authorities for Digital Technology Avicca, the federation of industrialists InfraNum and the France THD Mission have been working on the overhaul of the Grace THD data exchange format. A revised and corrected "v3" that will become the future standard for public fibre optic networks.

The promises of Grace THD V3: "the harmonisation and standardisation of data exchange practices between private and public players" are one of the conditions for "industrialising deployments". In order to meet the objectives of the France THD Plan, the ambition is to return as soon as possible to 2019 production rates.

This common frame of reference also aims at enabling local authorities to constitute a reliable and exploitable base for their public initiative networks.

A recommendation of the France THD Plan, accompanied by an application guide, will help promote the adoption of this model. Thus, "the France THD Mission recommends to all local authorities to migrate to GraceTHD v3" in the operational phase. While in the deployment phase, "the migration will be decided by the local authority under the aegis of the MTHD, after consultation with the local and national private stakeholders concerned".

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Source : DegroupNews

Organized by Mon Territoire Numérique every year in March in Deauville, the RIP Estates General finally took place in video format. The meeting of public initiative networks made it possible to gauge the impact of the health crisis on the very high-speed broadband projects carried by local authorities.

At the end of March, InfraNum warned that a complete halt to the fibre optic deployment projects would be a "catastrophe" likely to cause 12 months of inertia. Today, the Federation of Digital Infrastructure Industrialists is breathing - a little. Its president, Étienne Dugas, says "We have worked on the ordinances, on the various decrees with more or less success" in order to "avoid the complete shutdown of the industrial tool, which is done".

Overall, activity fell, on average, to around 30% of nominal production during containment. This made it possible to keep the industrial facilities in operation, although the situation varied greatly from one region to another.

Today, the time has come for a return to load: 50% activity last week, 70% this week. At any rate, these are the figures announced by Julien Denormandie, the French Minister for Urban Affairs and Housing, who has been in charge of HSBB issues since 2017. But Etienne Dugas warns that they should be taken with caution: "In terms of productivity, we are still far from the rates we could have had previously".

This observation is corroborated by Lionel Recorbet for SFR FttH: "We are going to have a lot, a lot of difficulties to get back to 100%". Cyril Luneau, Director of Community Relations at Orange, also warns that a return to pre-crisis fibre deployment levels "is not for now". The Covid episode will have "a serious and profound impact on the calendars and milestones for the end of this year, and no doubt for 2022", i.e. the deadlines for the operator's commitment in the AMII zone.

The operators therefore warn that at this stage it is difficult to quantify the additional delays. Pascal Rialland, President of Covage, nevertheless risks predicting a postponement of deployment of "4 to 6 months in 2021" for the 75,000 fibre optic lines that Covage was to deploy in 2020 in Calvados.

Schedule slippages will be inevitable and consequently delays in commercialization could ultimately weigh on the economy of the projects carried by the communities. As will the more immediate additional costs associated with health precautions.

It is not possible at this stage to put a figure on these additional costs. InfraNum has also commissioned an impact study for the end of the month. The Federation of Industrialists intends to use this work as a basis for the recovery plan promised by the government for next September.

While waiting for a clearer picture of the impact of the health crisis, the participants in the Estates General of the RIPs preferred to insist on other levers for accelerating deployment in order to respond to the digital impatience.

On the industrial side, the immediate cash needs of companies in the sector were highlighted in order to be able to continue their activity. At the height of the crisis, infrastructure operators have multiplied initiatives to relieve the cash flow of their subcontractors (reductions in payment deadlines, advances and other subsidies). Now, the idea is to "put more agility" in the payments of France THD subsidies to local authorities, Julien Denormandie announces.

But the President of the French Telecoms Federation, Arthur Dreyfuss, tempers "the answer cannot only be public money". Beyond new financial help, the Secretary General of Altice France is waiting for "all those little everyday obstacles" to the deployment of fibre to be lifted. Many grievances have been voiced for years that many HSBB actors would like to see finally heard. In this exceptional situation, "we have to beat the iron", Patrick Chaize sums up. By making, for example, digital infrastructures an essential asset, argues the Senator of Ain and President of Avicca. An approach allowing the deployment to overcome some of these obstacles, also believes Arthur Dreyfuss, deploring that "we do not benefit from the right that gas or electricity enjoy.

An idea that does not convince Julien Denormandie, for whom such a status could be misunderstood by the French deprived of a good connection. The minister prefers to go through other texts for certain operational advances to which he says he is "open". On the other hand, concerning the very pressing question of co-ownership, the minister kicks the ball, referring to the "balances" of the Elan law. Operators and local authorities have therefore not finished with this painstaking work.

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Source : DegroupNews

To estimate the number of premises to be connected to fibre optics in France, the Arcep has hitherto relied on INSEE data. However, a few days ago, the contours became clearer with the integration into its data of the IPE (Information Préalable Enrichée) files from the operators. This information has long been requested by the Association of Local Authorities for the Digital Economy (Avicca) and which it hastened to examine.

The result: of the 9,000 municipalities for which the IPE files are now authentic, the number of premises is much higher than previously estimated. In particular in the AMII zone, a notorious casus belli between the operators who deploy there and Avicca. Avicca counted "1.82 million premises not accounted for" in the old reference system, which was set at around 13.5 million. Orange and SFR made binding commitments to the government on this basis. By this yardstick, "objectives that already seemed unattainable - even before the current health crisis - now seem unrealistic," comments Avicca.

In order to take into account the strong disruptions caused by the health crisis, the association is calling for a "freeze" on the timetable, but "Covid-19 could not be held solely responsible for all the delays that Avicca and Arcep have been measuring for years", it continues. Already heard this week from the regulator's side, this speech is making the operators get off their hinges.

In the other zones, the additional premises are more limited. The association calculates 300,000 homes and other establishments more than expected in very dense areas, and nearly 500,000 in areas of public initiative. Enough to encourage the members of the association dependent on RIP to be "vigilant", concludes Avicca.

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Source : DegroupNews

An exceptional success for FttH deployments in public initiative areas, the France THD Plan was designed to equip homes in the most fragile areas (rural, mountain and island) with optical fibre. It thus unifies the technical conditions for deployment throughout the national territory.

Covering 100% of the territory by 2025 is a prerequisite for the competitiveness of the French economy within the European Union. Successive governments have supported this ambition by providing significant financial assistance on an equal basis with communities. A balance that has now been broken...

Indeed, the National Conference of Territories in December 2017 marked the weakening of the France THD Plan: the closure of the FSN window, public aid of 3 to 5 billion to private operators as part of the "New Deal Mobile", the abolition of €100 million in subsidies to local authorities...

The government's announcement of the reopening of the window on 15 October 2019 was not accompanied by any realistic budget projection to finalize this critical infrastructure project.

The State persists on the figure of €140 million while the estimated needs are 4 to 5 times higher. The Senate's proposals to supplement with €322 million in commitment appropriations were rejected. After the failure of the Joint Joint Committee, Members of Parliament are therefore the last resort of local authorities.

The elected representatives' associations therefore invite the deputies to pay attention to Article 38 - State B of the Mission économique proposed in the second part of the text and to oppose any amendment that would delete this essential provision from the draft Finance Act.

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Source : Avicca

The government has announced new funding for public fibre optic networks. For the past two years, local authorities and fibre manufacturers have been calling for the reopening of the subsidy window for Public Initiative Networks. However, this will be done in a piecemeal fashion, with only €140 million allocated in 2020. A sum resulting from savings made on previously launched programmes, thanks to economies of scale on deployment work but also from the growing appetite of private investors for these highly profitable projects.

However, funds remain far from the estimated needs to complete, or almost complete, the deployment of optical fibre in some 25 departments by 2025. Among those who do not benefit from it, the National Federation of Licensing Authorities and Authorities. Jean-Luc Sallabery, in charge of the FNCCR's digital department, reacted and said that the envelope announced by the government was not "up to the challenge". Only a few days ago, the Federation demanded a contribution of one billion euros from the counter.

This should cover about 20% of the amount needed for the remaining 3 million fibre optic lines to be deployed. This is relatively small compared to the 36 million French premises, but "they are the most complicated, with a projected cost of 1,500 - 1,600 euros per take. That is a total cost of 4.5 to 5 billion euros," Jean-Luc Sallabery calculates. He thus regrets the "double penalty" imposed on the territories: deployments on private funds in AMEL, which he doubts will really be completed, and reduced funding for local authorities that have chosen to keep the RIP model.

Government arithmetic raises even more questions because it does not fit in with the dynamics of ongoing projects. Thus, if Avicca, the association of local authorities for Digital, is screaming "victory" following this announcement, it is in reality to better point out the efforts that will have to be made immediately. "It will be essential for parliamentarians to mobilize within the framework of the finance bill to enable all first applications, ready to be submitted, to be accompanied," she stressed. Estimated cost: an additional €322 million.

An additional envelope that MPs will have to unblock or risk attending a "clash of hands" between territories that, to launch their projects, will not have the time to wait for hypothetical savings, warns Ariel Turpin. The State intends to achieve these savings as they occur by recycling unused credits in order to raise the 4 to 500 million it considers necessary. This mechanism should enable the government to remain within the budget initially allocated to the France THD counter, i.e. 3.3 billion. But for its part, the association of local authorities for Digital continues to consider it undervalued in order to bring optical fibre to the whole territory.

On the other hand, for InfraNum it works. "I agree with the government's speech. There are savings being made in deployments, and the 3.3 billion envelope should indeed be enough to meet all the demands of local authorities," says Étienne Dugas, President of the Federation of Very High Speed Industrialists.

The relative modesty of the 140 million euros initially promised does not move him beyond measure. "It's not a money issue. For the remaining catches, all you have to do is launch them in a concession and the demand for subsidies will be almost nil," he says.

"What was important was to reopen the counter so that the files could be processed," concludes the InfraNum boss. In addition, we are satisfied with another announcement, namely the signature of the strategic contract for the digital infrastructure sector "by the end of the year".

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Source : DegroupNews