When SFR was acquired by Numéricable in 2014, the parent company, Altice, made a number of commitments to the French Competition Authority in order to better promote this concentration in the telecoms sector. These commitments, which were entered into for a period of five years, should no longer be maintained, the gendarme said at the end of this period, on 28 October. With one exception: the agreement to co-develop the fibre in very dense areas concluded with Bouygues before the acquisition.

The French Competition Authority has therefore released Altice from several of its commitments concerning:

• the obligation to open the cable network to other operators, and not to use the information available to Altice to deploy its fibre network.
• the prohibition on offering cable offers in La Poste branches with which SFR had a distribution agreement.
• the maintenance of dark fibre (FON) or dedicated optical local loop (BLOD) offers "at least as advantageous as before the operation".

On the other hand, the competition police officer was more picky about the Faber contract concluded between SFR and Bouygues Telecom in 2010. A co-delivery agreement for the horizontal fibre optic network in 22 cities located in very dense areas (including Paris). Especially since Altice was called to order in 2017 because of "particularly serious breaches" of the execution of this contract. 40 million fine and injunctions to comply with deployment commitments co-financed by Bouygues Telecom.

The Authority decided to lift part of the injunctions: those, without penalty, requiring Altice to connect the buildings concerned by the agreement as from the 2017 decision. The competition police officer considers that Altice's interests are now "aligned with those of Bouygues Telecom" within the scope of the Faber contract. The parent company now favours FttH.

On the other hand, the injunctions under penalty payments for the stock of buildings that were to be fibrated before 2017 are maintained. The Authority is examining the progress of Patrick Drahi's group to determine whether it should also be released from these commitments. Its conclusions will be issued "in the first half of 2020".

 Read the article

Source : DegroupNews

In early June, AOTA, the Association of Alternative Telecommunications Operators, called on the government to "address the transition to IPv6 and the preservation of the competitive balance".

The Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE) has just replied: "the transition to this new communication protocol now appears to be a major challenge for competitiveness and innovation". However, it states that "the government's capacity to act in this area is limited by the lack of a legislative basis to regulate this type of resource, as IP addresses are managed at the international level by ICANN and allocated directly at the European level by the European Internet registry, the Amsterdam-based RIPE NCC".

To find a solution, "the French authorities will propose to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union that it put the issue of the transition to IPv6 on the agenda of a working group of the Telecommunications and Information Society Council and that it refer the matter to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for its opinion".

Despite a "timid response", the AOTA welcomes the fact that the State is taking the issue seriously. The Chief Electoral Officer also points out that the Arcep can play a supporting role in facilitating the transition to IPv6, and that a "task force" will soon be set up by the Arcep on this subject".

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Source : Next Inpact

Free had been involved for several years in co-financing the FTTH networks deployed by Orange and was challenging several terms of its contract with the incumbent operator. The Regulatory Authority had settled this dispute in Free's favour, but Orange had been challenging the legality of the dispute since then. The Paris Court of Appeal upheld Arcep's decision in an order dated 26th September 2019.

The planned renewal of the term and conditions of access to Orange's infrastructure was contested by Free. Arcep confirmed that they did not meet Free's needs for visibility and transparency and therefore imposed on Orange to grant a right of access for a defined period of time and at least 40 years. In its decision, the Court of Appeal confirmed that these conditions are "not sufficiently precise in view of Free's need for visibility over the effective duration of this right".

In addition, Arcep considered that it was justified and reasonable for Free to obtain information on the formation of access tariffs for Orange FTTH networks in less dense private initiative areas. This was also supported by the Court of Appeal, which stated that these tariffs were "directly linked to the financial terms of the bid, which it seeks to ensure is fair".

Finally, the Regulatory Authority considered that the incumbent operator should allow Free to connect mobile base stations in less dense areas of private initiative via the extra optical fibres of the FTTH network deployed by Orange and co-financed by Free. A point that has not been contested by Orange in its appeal.

In addition, the Paris Court of Appeal held that the decision did not affect business confidentiality and confirmed Arcep's analysis. And noting that the information that Orange must provide to Free pursuant to the decision "is characterized by a very high degree of aggregation, both geographically and by expense items".

 Read the article

Source : Le Monde Informatique

The wholesale-only operator Kosc is in the spotlight. Its president, Yann de Prince, confirmed that there are only a few weeks left to find a solution to his financial problems at his hearing in early October by the Senate.

"As the company had not yet reached operating balance, and could not therefore in principle convince the court of its ability to continue its activity, it was logical that we should proceed, not with a suspension of payment, but with outright liquidation," explained the director of the alternative wholesale operator.

"The process I have initiated gives the company a very short period of time, two months, to try to overcome its difficulties," he said. Yann de Prince mandated the Rothschild investment bank in early September to "find investors or any partner who could help save or take over the company".

"The outcome of the process initiated at the beginning of September is set for the end of October 2019. It may be extended for a further two months. Its main condition is the payment of the next salaries. This payment itself depends on a new commitment by shareholders or the lifting of SFR's seizures. If one or the other does not come true, we will probably no longer avoid the pitfall of liquidation," said Kosc's boss.

Facing serious cash flow problems, the operator has indeed seen its horizon darken considerably in recent weeks. The operator is uncertain following the Competition Authority's unfavourable decision concerning the takeover of Completel's DSL network, previously held by SFR, and the withdrawal of one of its major investors, Banque des territoires.

"Kosc is in a blocking situation at this time. On September 27, 2019, using the ADLC's decision as an instrument in the middle of a discussion process with creditors, SFR proceeded to a protective seizure of the company's accounts and all trade receivables. As a result, Kosc no longer has any liquidity. Bailiffs regularly come to our offices. From the end of October, it will face the problem of salary payments unless our shareholders intervene further," said Kosc's Director of Financial Control and Regulatory Affairs.

It is now time for an emergency. "Kosc's situation is now simple: either in the coming weeks, the shareholders will be sufficiently convinced and will decide to provide sufficient funds to allow the company to regain a certain margin of manoeuvre, necessary for the implementation of a sustainable solution, or the company will be liquidated or sold," explained its president.

Especially since OVH, one of its historical investors, could well play the role of the girl of the air since the telecom activities are no longer a priority for him.
But the operator has no shortage of contenders for its takeover. The operator's president thus stated "Despite a most unfavourable situation, despite the urgency with which these possible partners are asked to position themselves, sixteen[candidates] have already expressed themselves" by specifying that they are mainly industrial partners.

Bouygues Telecom and Iliad could be candidates for this takeover. This information should still be taken on a conditional basis, but it might seem plausible when both operators have views on this lucrative market.

 Read the article

Source : ZDNet

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".

 Read the article

Source : DegroupNews

In a report published with the European Agency for Cybersecurity on securing 5G networks, the European Commission warned EU Member States of the dangerousness of new wireless telecommunications technology. For the Commission, the deployment of 5G risks "creating a new security paradigm that requires a reassessment of the current policy and security framework applicable to the sector and its ecosystem and is essential for Member States to take the necessary mitigation measures".

In more detail, this report calls for a review of the current design of 3G and 4G networks and warns against the use of a single supplier, particularly those not based in the European Union, without however mentioning the name Huawei. "The increased role of software and services provided by third party providers in 5G networks leads to greater exposure to a number of vulnerabilities that may result from the risk profile of individual providers".

The European Commission also explains: "While 5G network technology and standards will also bring some security improvements over previous generations, several important challenges arise from new features of the network architecture and the wide range of services and applications that may in the future depend heavily on 5G networks. [...] Major security breaches, such as those resulting from poor software development processes among equipment suppliers, could facilitate the malicious insertion of intentional backdoors into products by actors and make them more difficult to detect. This can increase the likelihood that their exploitation will have a particularly serious and widespread negative impact".

The report adds that EU Member States should not judge 5G network providers solely on their technical qualities and assess them on the basis of "non-technical vulnerabilities related to 5G networks", such that the provider's country has "no legislative or democratic control and balance in place, or in the absence of security or data protection agreements between the EU and the given third country" or that the structure of the provider's owner and the ability for its own country to "exert any pressure, in particular with respect to the manufacture of equipment". If Huawei's name is not mentioned, it is impossible not to think about it...

As a result, Huawei once again defended itself against any interference from the Chinese authorities: "We are a 100% private company, 100% employee-owned, and cybersecurity is a top priority: our end-to-end cybersecurity assurance system covers all process areas, and our solid experience proves that it works".

No one is saying that the Commission will respond to this extended hand, since it has apparently also decided to sweep away another option proposed by Huawei. Indeed, the Chinese manufacturer had indicated that it could be satisfied with intervening only on parts considered less sensitive in the future 5G networks of EU Member States.

The European Union's next steps will result in the publication of a range of mitigation measures to address the identified cybersecurity risks at the national and EU levels by 31 December 2019. Finally, Member States should assess the effects of the Recommendation in order to determine whether further measures should be taken by 1 October 2020. This assessment should take into account the results of the coordinated European risk assessment and the effectiveness of the measures.

 Read the article

Source : ZDnet

CFAST, a publisher of software packages for alternative telecom operators, conducted a survey on the reasons for the shortage of female talent in the telecom sector, and more broadly in the digital sector.

In this dossier entitled "Women's telecoms: freedom, equality, parity? ", you can discover:

• a historical overview of the pioneers of the sector
• companies and associations working today for the promotion of women in the Digital age
• the portrait of professionals: their careers and actions to make things happen

Find the forum dedicated to RezoGirls by clicking here. If you wish to download the complete file, click on this link.

Rezopole invites you on October 16th to 2ᵉ Aperezo of the year on Isère soil.

On the agenda: presentation of the Association's current events followed by the traditional cocktail dinner organised for the occasion around the gastronomic specialities of Dauphin cuisine.

Attention: the number of places being limited, registration is MANDATORY.
For organizational and security reasons, any person not in possession of a nominative registration confirmation * will be refused access to the event.

* Confirmation by name subsequently sent by e-mail.

I register

By registering, you agree, if you appear on the photos taken during the event, that they be published on our site, social networks and the site of our partner.

Useful information

• Adress : Le Gratin Dauphinois - 52 avenue Félix Viallet, 38000 Grenoble
• Access map
• Schedule from 6:30 pm to 10 pm

The next Rezopole User Group will take place on 27th May 2019 from 9am to 12pm at the Hôtel de Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 1 Esplanade François Mitterand, Lyon 2nd.

This edition will open with a short presentation of the technical and architectural developments that have taken place in the LyonIX infrastructure over the past year. We will continue with a review of the recent incidents in Route-Leak that have punctuated the news, such as:

• global injection and re-announcement of locally optimized routes (2019-06-24 Noction/Verizon/etc...)
• BGP-Hijack of Telegram by Iran-Telecom-Co (2018-07-30)
• SwissCom traffic suction by ChinaTelecom (2019-06-06-06)

The study of these incidents and countermeasures that would have limited their impact will lead us to the presentation of methods and issues such as:

• implementation and refinement of RPKI-ROA declarations
• bgpq3 : concrete filters from IRR data
• filter IP-bogon ranges simply
• feasibility of simple filtering on AS-Path
• PeerLock
• BGPmon's death announced

All these studies will be carried out in the form of a debate with the participants.

 Register 

The places are very limited !

Please confirm your participation before September 25th.

The incumbent operator has submitted a Priority Question of Constitutionality to the Council of State, which can thus deprive the telecom police of its sanctioning powers and render the operators' commitments ineffective.

Unveiled on Tuesday by Le Monde, this request challenges the legal validity of a formal notice sent to it by Arcep last January. Indeed, the regulator criticized Orange for not respecting its obligations towards other telecom operators when it makes its fixed networks available to them. For the time being, this request is only at the preliminary stage. It will only be examined by the "Wise Men" of the Constitutional Council if the Council of State decides to transfer the file to it.

But in reality, it is a much broader problem. The incumbent operator argues that Arcep is both judge and party at the same time and that there is too much permeability between its three missions: to enact rules for the market, to control telecom operators and also to sanction them in the event of non-compliance with their obligations.
The regulator would de facto be deprived of its power to impose sanctions if the Conseil d'État were to rule in favour of the operator. In short, if the Arcep can no longer sanction abuses, the shipyards will fall behind and the objectives to boost French access to very high speed will not be met.

Orange assures that the procedure is a legal issue and will not affect the commitments made. The operator points out that in 2013 the Arcep has already been deprived of its power to impose sanctions in a similar procedure.
 

 Read the article

Source : Les Echos

Rezopole is pleased to invite you on Thursday, September 26th to the next IXPloration organized in its offices at 16 rue de la Thibaudière, 69007 Lyon.

This completely free event will be an opportunity for you to discover LyonIX, the IXP / NAP of Lyon.

Thus will be detailed during this morning:
- the IXP part, which improves Internet exchanges between users in a territory, reduces telecom costs, and secures and optimizes the network thanks to the multiple routes offered.
- the NAP part, which provides connected members with direct access to the operators present and their offers. We buy or sell any type of Telecom service with great flexibility.

On the agenda

9h00 – 9h30 : Welcome over a coffee

9h30 – 10h30 : Presentation of LyonIX :

                         - Economic and technical advantages

                         - Connection solutions

                         - Questions and Answers

10h30 – 11h30 : Visit to a LyonIX Point of Presence

 Register

Euclyde Data Centers and Rezopole are pleased to invite you to the 59th edition of the Aperezo.

Meet on Wednesday 25th September at Oscar at the Puces du Canal de Lyon, from 6:30 pm to 10 pm.

Attention: the number of places being limited, registration is MANDATORY.
For organizational and security reasons, any person not in possession of a nominative registration confirmation * will be refused access to the event.

* Confirmation by name subsequently sent by e-mail.

I register

By registering, you agree, if you appear on the photos taken during the event, that they be published on our site, social networks and the site of our partner.

About our sponsor

Euclyde Data Centers is a group specializing in the deployment and operation of regional, neutral, quality data centers.

Since 2004, Euclyde has been meeting the needs of companies of all sizes from its various sites with a full range of services including infrastructure hosting (colocation), managed services, and business continuity solutions (PRA/PCA).

All the sites of the Euclyde group are interconnected with each other, as well as with several network operators and hyper-clouds.

Euclyde currently owns five sites in France and is preparing to open two more in 2019 and 2020.

The Rezopole technical team will meet you on Friday 27th September from 9am to 12pm at the Hôtel de Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.


This 21st edition will focus on the BGP leak road incidents encountered in recent months and on existing solutions to limit this type of incident. A report on the major changes in the infrastructure of the LyonIX exchange point during the year will also be provided.

 

Registration will open very soon!

Fibre optic cables, data transfer and storage stations and power plants form a vast network of physical infrastructure that underpins Internet connections.

Recent research shows that a large part of this infrastructure will be affected by rising water levels in the coming years. After mapping the Internet infrastructure in the United States, scientists overlayed it with maps showing sea level rise. Their results: in 15 years, thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables and hundreds of other critical infrastructures are at risk of being overwhelmed by the waves. Still according to the researchers, the extra few centimetres of water could plunge nearly 20% of the U.S. Internet infrastructure underwater.

"Much of the existing infrastructure is located just off the coast, so it doesn't take much more than a few centimetres of water to get it underwater", says Paul Barford, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and co-author of the study: The network was deployed 20 years ago, when no one thought that sea levels could rise.

The physical structure of the Internet network has been installed somewhat randomly and often opportunistically along power lines, roads or other major infrastructure in recent decades when demand has exploded.

While scientists, designers and companies have long been aware of the risks posed by rising water levels on roads, subways and power lines, no one has so far been interested in the consequences that this could have on the physical Internet network.

"When you consider how interconnected everything is today, protecting the Internet is crucial", says Mikhail Chester, director of the Resilient Infrastructure Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Even the smallest technical incidents can have disastrous consequences. He continues "this new study reinforces the idea that we must be aware of the state of these systems, because it will take a long time to update them".

Rich Sorkin, co-founder of Jupiter Intelligence, a company that models climate-induced risks, says, "We live in a world designed for an environment that no longer exists". And concludes by saying that "accepting the reality of our future is essential - and this type of study only underlines the speed with which we will have to adapt".

 Read the article

Source : National Geographic

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