The merger between Rezopole and France-IX was approved on December 15th at the respective General Meetings of the two entities.

A second General Meeting will be held, again by videoconference, on Friday, January 29th, 2021 at 2:00 pm. This extraordinary session will be dedicated to the election of two positions on the France-IX Board of Directors.

This election will be held in two stages in order to guarantee greater equity for Rezopole members, now integrated as France-IX members, who will be able to make their voices heard on this date. Their representation on the new Board is therefore encouraged by allowing Rezopole members to support and vote for candidates from their community. Voting will take place by electronic ballot from January 12th to 29th, 2021.

Nominations for these two seats will open on Thursday, December 17th, 2020 and close on Friday, January 8th, 2021.  Full information on how to apply is provided below.

Who should apply?

If you have a professional experience in telecoms/Internet/network interconnection, if you want to be part of France-IX community and if you have time to do so, a great opportunity opens up for you.

You can apply, whether your company is a member or not of France-IX, except if you are already a board member of another Internet Exchange Point, or if you already work for another Internet Exchange Point.

For these seats, more than technical skills, it is expected to benefit from your knowledge from the market, your capacity to identify and collect needs and to express a vision and contribute to the development of France-IX.

The duration of the mandate for a board member is 3 years.

The main missions of the board members are:

• Participate to monthly conference calls (1 hour);
• Participate to face to face meetings (twice a year, full day);
• Represent the association France-IX, and be a spokesman;
• Make the link with the France-IX’s community, especially to collect needs and expectations;
• Contribute to the strategy of France-IX, help to define new services and bring high-level advice to the CEO.

All board members must sign a Code of Conduct, in relation with the confidential nature of the information they will have access to, and to guarantee neutrality in decision-making processes, and avoid any potential conflict of interest.

How and when should I apply?

Your resume along with max 300 word statements in English should be submitted to board-candidates_at_franceix.net prior to 08 January 2021.

If you wish, you can also send a short video (3 minutes maximum) to promote your application and explaining who you are, why you want to contribute and how you think you can help. This will be made available on our website for the France-IX electors.

Please note that your application is subject to review by France-IX current Board before being validated and shared with the voters.

The vote is electronic and stays open until the defined hour on the General meeting day. Candidates who received the greatest number of votes are elected and announced at the end of the GM day on France-IX’s website.

What should I expect?

France-IX Board Members do not get any kind of salary, bonus or discounts on peering services. Only expenses during the face-to-face meetings may be reimbursed.

France-IX Board Members get fulfilled by their involvement in a professional eco-system of more than 500 members and their contribution to help France-IX to grow year after year. Actually, technical matters are rarely discussed during Board Meetings but instead Board Members contribute to bring innovation, ideas with member satisfaction, and more generally, ideas to keep improving France-IX performance and services, and finally they are the guardians of France-IX sustainability in the long term.

See the list of the current Board Members here.

Question, comment, concern?

If you have any question and would like more information, please contact the President of France IX Services: direction_at_franceix.net.

Rezopole's bi-annual satisfaction questionnaire is getting a new look; a more targeted questionnaire for a faster response time. The opinion of each Premium member is essential to enable us to improve our services and quality in order to prepare 2021 under the best auspices.

To answer this questionnaire, concerning the connection and/or the services they benefit from at Rezopole, each member uses the link sent by email. This survey usually takes no more than 5 minutes.

And for Christmas, to combine business with pleasure, a superb JBL loudspeaker can be won by drawing lots. Good luck to all of you!

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...

 Read the article

Source : DegroupTest

Despite the shortage of IPv4 addresses, the Arcep draws a mixed picture of the transition to the IPv6 network protocol. In its annual barometer, the gendarme des Télécom notes the progress made by operators in the fixed-line sector, in particular Free, and to a lesser extent Orange. While both have high rates of IPv6-activated customers, SFR appears to be lagging behind, while Bouygues Telecom must accelerate its efforts.

In the mobile sector, Bouygues Telecom has made the most effort, followed by Orange. As for SFR, they are working twice as hard to catch up, while Free Mobile has still not begun the transition.

However, it is the rate of mail hosting that alarms the Arcep the most. Indeed, only Google stands out with more than 95% of domain names in IPv6 for mail servers.

Today, France would rank tenth in the world Top 30 in terms of IPv6 usage rate. It would rank fifth, behind Belgium, Germany, Greece and Switzerland at the European level.

 Read the article

Source : 01Net

The fixed market regulation project concocted by the Arcep, already approved by the Competition Authority, has also just been endorsed by Brussels. Composed of two parts, it specifically concerns Orange for one part and all the players for the other.

One of the main objectives is to encourage Orange to put an end to copper and therefore to ADSL as quickly as possible so that it is not tempted to prolong the "rent" of the copper network. The incumbent operator will thus no longer have the right to open new copper access in buildings where the four major players are present in fiber optics. It will also have to more easily connect businesses and homes far from its network on demand, in order to fill the holes in the coverage racket and increase the rate of FttH adoption.

The telecom policeman has set another goal to contain Orange's dominance in the enterprise market. Indeed, all ISPs using its shared fiber to offer commercial offers to individuals will now also be able to do so for businesses.

 Read the article

Source : 01Net

Altice, via its SFR FTTH branch, entered into exclusive negotiations a year ago to acquire 100% of the wholesale operator Covage.

The Association of Alternative Telecom Operators was quick to express its concern, because this merger was not "without raising profound questions about the preservation of an already fragile competitive intensity in the business and local authority market".

The European Commission "has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Covage by SFR FTTH, a company jointly controlled by Altice, Allianz and Omers. The clearance is subject to full compliance with a series of commitments offered".

Two commitments are made by SFR FTTH:

• "The sale to a suitable purchaser of 25 subsidiaries and assets corresponding to Covage's "optical local loop"" business in the territory of 30 public institutions. These subsidiaries and assets consist of FttO networks and represent in total approximately 95% of Covage's FttO business.
• "The offer of a transitional service contract, including access to all assets and services required to operate the divested business under competitive conditions for a period of time allowing SFR FTTH to become fully independent".

In conclusion, the Commission states that "the final commitments address the competition concerns identified by the Commission with respect to the acquisition of Covage by SFR FTTH and have been substantially improved following comments provided by market participants. The Commission has therefore concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, no longer raises competition concerns".

 Read the article

Source : Next Inpact

Couldn't make it to the RUG on November 27th? Don't worry, Rezopole's technical team offers you a catch-up session on Friday, December 18th.

The program remains the same:

• best practices for IP filtering at the edge routers of a network
• the implementation and handling of RTBH in the context of an IXP
• a feedback on the use of a BGP optimization tool based on performance metrics

Useful information

• Schedule from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
• Confirm your participation before December 16th
• The videoconference link will be sent a few days before the event

 Register 

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.

 Read the article

Source : DegroupTest

Based on an October U.S. report referring to the 3.7-3.9 GHz band used by 5G, the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) is concerned that the first 5G antennas could disrupt guidance systems inside aircraft. Indeed, this would create a "major risk" for aircraft radio altimeters that also rely on these frequencies. This system is the only device on board aircraft to be able to measure their distance from the ground or other obstacles. Philippe Barnola, Deputy Director at the DGAC, specifies that "Complementary technical analyses are underway to ensure the compatibility of these 5G stations with the needs of civil aviation".

And this is particularly disturbing for operators, who explain that they were informed of the problem once the frequencies were paid for. Now they fear delays in the deployment of 5G.

While operators will initially focus on city centers, they fear that they will not be able to cover more or less wide areas around airports in the future. And this could concern cities in some cases, such as those around Roissy or Orly airports.

The operators have therefore decided to write to the Secretary of State for Digital and Electronic Communications. For its part, SFR is threatening not to pay the first installment it owes the State for frequencies. While Bouygues Telecom wants to be compensated "in proportion to these new constraints".

In the office of the Secretary of State, they want to reassure themselves: "In Germany everything is going well, there is no reason why it should be any different in France". The protection zones around airports will be adapted for 5G, for example. Work has also been launched at the European level.

The same applies to the National Frequency Agency (ANFR). "In the end, there will be a delay of a few weeks or even months on a limited number of antennas near airports [...] There will be no sustainable exclusion zones. French airports have 2G, 3G and 4G. They will also have 5G."

 Read the article

Source : Kulture Geek

Rezopole offers you, on December 08th & 09th, an interactive workshop to transfer the basics of the BGP protocol and guide you towards IP autonomy.

This training, provided by professionals for professionals, covers the operation and configuration of BGP on Bird, Cisco, FFR. This protocol is necessary to interconnect on an IXP and take full advantage of "multiple transit" offers.

During these two days of videoconferencing, you will progressively and comprehensively address the different aspects of BGP (peering and the use of Route Server). You set up your first session and discover the techniques for announcing and filtering networks, both in IPv4 and IPv6.

Price: 1000 € (Ex-VAT) per attendee during 2 days!

This training may be covered by your OPCO (Rezopole activity number: 84691581469).

Do you want to participate? Just send us an email.

The registration closing date is on December 04th, 2020.

Program

  Download the BGP training info 

Grégory Rabuel, CEO of SFR, announced the launch of the 5G in Nice on the evening of November 20th at BFM Business. Just over 50% of the city will be covered by this new generation mobile network.

While Montpellier, Bordeaux, Nantes, Marseille and Greater Paris will be the next cities to be covered in 5G by the operator, other municipalities are calling for a moratorium on this technology.

SFR also unveiled its commercial offers for the general public and businesses. For their part, Orange and Bouygues Telecom have communicated their offers to the general public but without announcing their coverage plan. Free talked about a launch in "the coming weeks".

While operators have been able to use their 5G frequencies since November 18th, they are still subject to administrative procedures related to technical authorizations to be filed with the ANFR and requests for information from city halls.

However, several mayors who are environmentalists or left-wing mayors, such as in Lille and Grenoble, have declared that they are in favor of a moratorium until the publication of a report from the ANSES, scheduled for spring 2021.

In the capital, the Paris council voted to create a citizens' conference on 5G, while part of the public is wary of the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic waves.

Even though 5G promises to offer up to 10 times faster throughput in the long term; above all, operators are counting on its launch to manage the increase in traffic and avoid saturation of their mobile networks.

 Read the article

Source : Le Parisien

After ten months of proceedings, the Arcep ruled in favor of Bouygues Telecom regarding the wholesale prices charged by SFR FTTH to other national or regional operators. The latter are grafting themselves onto SFR's optical fiber network in the countryside in order to be able to offer this technology in areas where their own networks are less developed.

The Arcep was seized last January by Martin Bouygues' operator, after a price increase on the SFR side. Indeed, to access a "package" of SFR lines, operators had to pay 5.80 euros per line and per month, compared to 5.48 euros for Orange. Line rental prices had increased to 16.40 euros per month and per line.

SFR FTTH was able to increase its prices because, when it comes to optical fiber, only Orange's rates are regulated. For its part, Bouygues Telecom demanded two things: a return to the rates in effect before the February 1, 2020 increase and a reduction in line rental prices, with a range of 12.20 euros to 13.20 euros.

The regulator ruled in its favor on these two issues. SFR will therefore have to offer Bouygues Telecom an amendment to the contract to restore the old rates within one month. As regards line rental, SFR is required to propose a new tariff to Bouygues not to exceed 13.20 euros per month and per line.

This is a real setback for SFR, which by the end of 2018 had sold half of its fiber optic network in the three-fund campaigns. The latter had paid a very high price for this asset, no doubt enticed by the promise of high and long-term rental revenues.

But two years later, the operator had to lower its prices. In addition to this, Free has also filed a complaint with the Arcep on the same subject.

 Read the article

Source : Les Échos

The opinion of our members is essential to enable us to improve our services

and our quality in order to always serve them better.

This is why we conduct a survey every six months with each Premium member. In order to answer this questionnaire, concerning their connection and/or the services they benefit from at Rezopole, each member uses the link sent by email on November 17th. This survey usually takes no more than 10 minutes.

And, finally, to combine business with pleasure, a goodie can be won by drawing lots. Enough to end the year well together.

Arcep takes stock of the 4G mobile coverage of the metropolis. The Telecom gendarme estimates that the territory is today 96% covered by at least one operator and 76% covered by all operators.

Within the framework of the New Mobile Deal, "2,066 zones have been identified by the local authorities. ...] To date, 462 new sites are providing voice and SMS services with "good coverage" thanks to 3G and very high-speed mobile broadband (4G) in areas that have been identified and prioritized by the local authorities," the regulatory authority points out.

Operators' commitments/obligations are also verified by Arcep. Identified by an order dated July 4, 2018, 445 sites were to be implemented by October 9, 2020. Assessment: "403 of the 445 sites have been commissioned, i.e. nearly 91%. ...] The causes of the delays in bringing the other sites into service are currently being analyzed" by the regulator's services.

"Arcep welcomes the good progress of the Mobile New Deal, thanks to the mobilization of operators, local players and public authorities. The Authority will ensure that the operators fully respect all the commitments they have made," concludes Sébastien Soriano.

 Read the article

Source : NextInpact

To ensure the quality of fiber deployment, the government will launch a mission to monitor FttH deployments.

The most visible aspect of the degradation of the state of fiber networks is in some street cabinets. The model of entrusting the connection of subscribers to Internet service providers, in a relationship of subcontracting to network operators, is regularly blamed for these setbacks. And the various protagonists are still struggling to come to an agreement to put an end to the mess.

Some observers also point to the original choice to move the points of pooling as close as possible to residential or professional premises, to the detriment of a more centralized and therefore more secure architecture.

But beyond the state of the cabinets, the upstream part is also in the sights of this major control operation that the government intends to launch.

Indeed, the initiative is based on a set of alerts, notably concerning the undersizing of transport cables. In some places, the amount of lightpaths available would be insufficient to serve all users.

There are also concerns about imported fibre optics, which do not appear to be fully satisfactory.

The vulnerability of fibre networks to climatic hazards also explains this renewed vigilance.

The objective stated in the mission letter of this monitoring operation: "to better secure deployments and operating conditions on public-initiative networks" (RIP). And to find "remedies" for potential problems identified.

Fiber networks deployed by operators using their own funds, in very dense areas or in less dense areas of private initiative (AMII in particular), would therefore be excluded from the scope of this monitoring mission.

Will it be a matter of leaving it up to the operators to ensure the proper functioning of their own network, while the State would only do so on RIPs, where public funds have been committed?

 Read the article

Source : DegroupTest