The broadband and ultra-broadband market observatory for the first quarter has just been published by Arcep. The regulator notes that "the number of very high-speed subscriptions rose by 1.1 million, i.e. a growth rate of 170% compared to the first quarter of 2020".

This means that "the number of very high-speed subscriptions has reached 15.7 million, and now represents more than half (51%) of the total number of Internet subscriptions in France (+9 points in one year) and 53% of the number of premises eligible for very high-speed access, up 6 points in one year".

The figures for fibre rollouts are also upbeat: "Public Initiative Networks have achieved their best deployment quarter ever and are outpacing private operator rollouts in AMII zones. The overall pace of deployment remains high in the first quarter of 2021, with 1.5 million FTTH lines".

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Source : Next Inpact

The latest quarterly figures published by Arcep confirm the growth of optical fibre in France: "the fourth quarter of 2020 was marked by record growth in fibre optic deployment (FttH) and its adoption, which concludes another record year in 2020". The 10 million subscriptions to FttH offers have now passed the 10 million mark.

The number of very high-speed broadband subscriptions now stands at 14.7 million. This represents nearly half of the total number of Internet subscriptions in France, and 51% of the number of premises eligible for very high-speed broadband, an increase of 3 points in one year.

This growth is primarily due to the increase in FttH subscriptions. With 3.3 million additional accesses in 2020, the number of FttH subscriptions is estimated at 10.4 million, or 70% of the total number of very high-speed accesses. Although broadband subscriptions still make up the majority of Internet subscriptions, with almost 16 million, they have dropped by 2.5 million in 2020.

In total, at the end of 2020, France had 30.6 million broadband and very high-speed subscriptions. This represents an increase of 285,000 in one quarter and 800,000 in one year (+2.7%). "Such annual growth has not been observed for three years," according to estimates from Arcep.

A trend that owes much to the sustained deployment of end-to-end fiber optic lines by operators and players in the sector. More than 1.9 million additional premises were made connectable to FttH during the fourth quarter of 2020. "More than 5.8 million lines were deployed in 2020, despite the health situation, 19% more than in 2019," said the telecoms policeman.

Now, 24.2 million premises are eligible for FttH offers, an increase of 31% in one year. Most of this growth is located in medium-density areas - the AMII zone (Appel à Manifestation d'Intention d'Investissement). At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, a total of 28.6 million premises were eligible for very high-speed broadband services, all technologies combined, including 21.7 million outside very dense areas.

While fiber deployment is progressing well, many homes and businesses are complaining about connectivity at half-mast. This is due to faulty maintenance or connections at sharing points, which generate numerous quality-of-service problems.
To remedy this, the operators have just concluded an agreement that could be a milestone in the sector. They are committed to improving the safety and quality of interventions with a new system of penalties.

The agreement, announced by Infranum, also provides for the collective assumption of the costs of restoring the network. This will slow down the explosion of "noodle dishes" overflowing the pooling points, which could eventually pose a major problem for the connectivity of individuals and professionals.

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Source : ZDNet

The hot topic at the end of this year in the HSBB ecosystem: the quality of subscribers' connections to fiber optic networks. This is why the Objectif Fibre platform, which brings together the various organizations representing the sector, has published a practical connection guide, intended for "all the players involved, from near or far, in the deployment of FttH".

Listing good practices according to the (many) cases encountered in the field, this document provides "the technical recommendations applicable in each situation encountered and which have been agreed upon by professionals in the sector". The objective is to "do it right the first time" but also to aim for "homogeneity throughout the country".

The guide is addressed both to technicians and to all the actors concerned (principals, operators, engineering and design departments, training organizations or real estate actors) in order to guarantee the success of the interventions but also to prevent the resumption of work which can prove to be expensive or to be used as technical support of reference in the event of litigation.

"It's a whole ecosystem [...] that will be reconciled with a totally shared know-how," says Cédric O in the foreword to the guide. For his part, Sébastien Soriano writes in the preface that this "capital document represents an accomplishment for the entire sector towards greater harmonization and quality".

The president of the Arcep also considers that "it is essential for the durability of the networks that the operators reinforce the controls of their subcontractors in the course of their interventions". A reminder to infrastructure and commercial operators, who are currently discussing an amendment to their subcontracting contracts in order to implement this reinforced control, with the hope of achieving this by the end of the year...

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Source : DegroupTest