It is now the turn of the professionals in charge of connection to commit themselves to solving the problem posed by the lack of maintenance or connection to the fibre. They have committed, through the signing of a charter of good practice, to put an end to what the public authorities see as a major obstacle to the adoption of fibre in the country.

A series of commitments including that of limiting themselves to a single level of subcontracting, "with particular attention to the status and qualifications" of the subcontractors employed.

This is a challenge given that "cascading" subcontracting is often blamed for defects in the quality of connections. The signatory companies of this charter, representing 70% of the sector's players, have also undertaken to encourage the use of local employment and to support the training of their employees through the implementation of actions dedicated to initial training or skills upgrading.

These include Axians, Circet, Constructel, Eiffage, ENGIE Solutions, Firalp, NGE Infranet, SADE Télécom, Groupe Scopelec, SNEF Télécom, Sogetrel, Solutions30 and SPIE CityNetworks.

Commercial operators and infrastructure operators such as Altitude Infra, Axione, Orange, TDF and XpFibre had already committed themselves at the beginning of March to a new subcontracting framework contract (also known as STOC mode, for "Sous-Traitance Opérateur Commercial") in order to put an end to these repeated abuses which are poisoning the lives of users.

Unfortunately, this problem is not new. Indeed, a working group set up by Arcep on the subject already reported in 2019 on "significant rates of malfunctions in the execution of final connection and cross-connection operations at the mutualisation point".

It cited three main difficulties to be resolved in order to put an end to the proliferation of "noodle dishes": repeated non-compliance with the rules on cross-connection at the point of mutualisation, defects in the routes taken by the optical fibre which can lead to traffic jams at the optical connection points, and various acts of vandalism at the points of mutualisation.

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Source : ZDnet

At a conference organised to present a dedicated barometer produced by Infranum, representatives of the fibre industry and the authorities had reason to be pleased. Indeed, the sector should once again reach a milestone in 2021 with the deployment of 6.2 million connections during the year.

The fibre players have even allowed themselves the luxury of exceeding the government's objectives with forecasts of 87% of homes connected to fibre in 2022 instead of the 80% initially desired by the public authorities.

If the year 2020 had already seen the sector break all records for connections, with 5.8 million sockets installed, the current year is looking even better. And it is on the public initiative networks (RIP) that the sector's professionals have chosen to focus in 2021. Of the 6.2 million outlets expected in 2021, 3.6 million will be located in RIP zones, compared with 1.8 million in AMII zones, 0.5 million in very dense zones and 0.4 million in AMEL zones.

A slowdown is planned for 2022 with the deployment of 5.8 million sockets, the majority of which will still be installed in RIP zones. The result is that while 40.6 million homes will have fibre optic access by 2025, there will still be 6.5 million outlets to be installed between now and 2025 in order to complete the networks.

And this is where the problem lies: "if there are "only" 6.5 million outlets left to be deployed by 2025, these will be the most difficult", emphasise the industry's representatives.

And to point out that 2.1 million premises, i.e. the last 5%, will necessarily have to be financed via substantial public aid... Worse still, 3% of this "remainder to be deployed" will not be able to be deployed, due to technical and financial constraints. "For these homes, it will be necessary to study other avenues, such as satellite internet," says Infranum, which sees the launch of new satellite offers as an increasingly credible alternative for achieving the objective of very high speed broadband for all.

In order to achieve 100% of homes with fibre over the next decade, the sector's professionals are calling for the implementation of a universal fibre service.

But there are also other pitfalls in the provision of high-speed broadband for all. Starting with the quality of connections, where the average failure rate of connections is currently between 20 and 25%. And although the representatives of the sector and the public authorities made commitments a few weeks ago to combat the spread of "noodle dishes" in civil engineering cabinets or within buildings, the result will not be immediate.

Among the burning issues for the sector is also that of employment. What is to be done with the professionals involved in the connection process once it is completed? This question will continue to be asked in the years to come, especially as the sector has recruited 9,700 new employees in 2020, instead of the 5,500 announced last year, and plans to recruit 5,500 in 2021, rather than 1,500.

"Three points must focus our efforts: the transition from copper to fibre, improving the quality of connections and anticipating the post-2021 period, particularly with regard to employment," conceded Cédric O...., the Secretary of State for the Digital Sector, on Tuesday, while welcoming the work carried out so far, noting that "the figures are very good, but we must continue this collective work, because there are still challenges to be met.

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Source : ZDnet

InfraNum has just announced "a major agreement between operators to improve the quality of connections and guarantee the durability of fiber networks in France". The quality of the operations of connection to the optical fiber is currently under fire, the federation of digital infrastructure manufacturers is trying to reassure. A framework has therefore been put in place and will be set out in numerous agreements between access providers and network operators... some of which have yet to be signed.

For 18 months, infrastructure operators (RO) and commercial operators (CO) have been working together to draw up these new Stoc contracts (for commercial operator subcontracting). The aim is to improve an operating mode that everyone is keen to maintain: the Internet access provider (OC) connects its subscriber, as a subcontractor of the network operator (RO).

Indeed, in the face of the influx of demand, its defenders argue that this is the most efficient way to operate in order to make things happen quickly. But not to do well, retort the detractors of the Stoc mode denouncing degradation, connection failures or access cuts.

The Stoc mode is therefore striving to make its transformation, "to improve the quality and safety of interventions, the processes and speed of connection, and the training of those involved". InfraNum therefore announces that discussions between network operators and ISPs have led to progress in three areas:

• "Improving the safety and quality of interventions", with in particular the "realization of joint audits and the introduction of sanctions that can go as far as the exclusion of a subcontractor in case of contractual failure".
• "Increase transparency" through a system for monitoring interventions and "control by an artificial intelligence system" on the side of the network operator".
• "Rebalancing maintenance costs: between ROs and COs, collective coverage of network restoration costs, according to a distribution key approved by the Arcep".

While the industry federation assures that "the first signatures have already taken place for rapid generalization and immediate implementation," it concedes, however, that this "new contractual framework" has not yet been fully deployed.

For example, network operators Axione and Altitude Infra have signed "with the majority of OCs", while things are "on the right track" for TDF. On the other hand, there is nothing on the progress of discussions with Orange and SFR, which have the particularity of being both commercial operators and network operators, particularly in public and private initiative zones.

A little more patience therefore before this new major agreement is implemented in unison on all networks and between all operators and ISPs. The interest for stakeholders is that it "avoids imposing a regulatory decision". The Arcep is currently conducting a consultation on the subject.

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Source : DegroupTest

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

Arcep has opened a window to allow local authorities to obtain THD radio frequencies and thus deploy this technology on their territories. The challenge is to be able to offer very high speed (minimum 30 Mb/s) to households with the lowest ADSL coverage and promised a late arrival of optical fibre. According to InfraNum, some 2.2 million households will be affected by 2022.


But here we are, only a handful of local authorities have obtained or requested dedicated frequencies. Indeed, the Federation reports a "deployment of the THD radio [...] under study or confirmed for nearly 40 departments" and notes that to date a "dozen departments" have not initiated any action.


InfraNum therefore sounds the alarm and asks Arcep to extend the opening of the THD radio counter by one year. The objective is to have more time to convince these communities to opt for a wireless solution. If other solutions exist, such as 4G setting up major national operators, the Federation warns that it will "not support, in addition, specific domestic or professional uses". And the prospect of a fixed 5G service is no more to be considered "waiting for its arrival to meet an immediate need for very high fixed broadband in rural areas is a decoy" warns Etienne Dugas, President of InfraNum....

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Source : DegroupNews