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."

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Source : Kulture Geek

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.

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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.

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Source : Les Échos

The Arcep, by putting an end to the call for tenders for 5G frequencies, has just delivered the positioning of operators on the 3.5 GHz band.

Only Free will have spent 3 million euros to secure a central position in the 5G "queen band". Iliad's French subsidiary will have access to 70 MHz of frequencies on a block ranging from 3.64 GHz to 3.71 GHz.

In detail, SFR will have 80 MHz of frequencies on a block ranging from 3.49 GHz to 3.57 GHz, while the 70 MHz of frequencies held by Bouygues Telecom will be located between 3.57 GHz and 3.64 GHz. Finally, Orange, which holds the largest block of frequencies, with 90 MHz of 5G frequencies, will have a block ranging from 3.71 GHz to 3.80 GHz.

During this second phase of the auction, the operators have disbursed a total of 2.78 billion euros. Bouygues Telecom paid 602 million euros to acquire 70 MHz of frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band, as did Free, which added 3 million euros to this sum to benefit from the positioning of its choice. For its part, SFR invested 728 million euros to get its hands on 80 MHz of frequencies, while Orange spent 854 million euros to get its hands on 90 MHz of frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band.

350 million spent by each operator to purchase fixed 50 MHz blocks will be reimbursed "in 15 equal parts over 15 years, the first part upon the award of the frequency license and the other 14 parts on the anniversary date of the award".

The amounts paid by the operators during the auction and positioning phase will be repayable "in four equal parts payable over four years, the first as soon as the authorization to use the frequencies is granted and the other three on the anniversary date of the grant".

"In addition to these sums, a variable annual portion equal to 1% of the revenues generated by the operation of these frequencies will be added to these amounts," said the telecom police officer.

The frequencies will be officially delivered by the Arcep as of November 18th. But operators will still have to wait for the ANFR's approval before they can market their first 5G offers to the general public and professionals, which should take about 10 additional days.

Concerning the marketing of 5G packages, the operators have not yet made their strategies known. In any case, they will have to wait for the approval of the municipalities to officially launch the 5G era among users. If patience is therefore required, operators are already beginning the major maneuvers to lower the cost of their 5G infrastructure.

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Source : ZDNet

On October 23rd, the Arcep validated an amendment to the roaming contract that already bound the two operators. Free will thus be able to use Orange's 2G and 3G networks for its own commercial offers until December 31, 2022 instead of December 31, 2020. This is despite criticism from SFR, Bouygues Telecom or other alternative operators grouped within the Alternative Telecom association.

To justify its delay in deploying its own 2G and 3G infrastructures, the operator founded by Xavier Niel denounced the mutualization of networks signed in 2014 by Bouygues Telecom and SFR, the reinforced 4G deployment obligations imposed by the New Mobile Deal, and the lack of frequencies.

This argument hit the nail on the head with the Arcep, which nevertheless maintained the cap on the maximum upload and download speeds achievable by roaming customers at 384 kbits.

Even if the Arcep assures that it will "remain attentive to the continued investment by Free Mobile in the deployment of its own networks", this is not enough to calm the criticism of those opposed to this extension.

Starting with the management of SFR, for whom "ten years after obtaining its 3G license, this roaming agreement granted to Free Mobile is only the admission of a crying lack of investment by Free Mobile during all these years".

For its part, Bouygues Telecom points out that "roaming was designed from the outset as a transitional measure, with the sole aim of enabling the new entrant to compensate for its late entry into the market". However, "Free can no longer be described as a new entrant in the mobile telephony market" and "now has a network that is broadly comparable to that of its competitors, and therefore quite sufficient to enable it to compete vigorously" in the mobile market."

Alternative operators point out that the license granted to Free Mobile by the authorities was awarded "in exchange for ambitious commitments to stimulate competition".

These criticisms did not prevent the extension of the roaming agreement between Free and Orange. Even if Free's management is now tending to catch up in terms of deployment, it is not certain that this will be enough to calm the slings and arrows of its competitors. Especially since the recent statements of Orange's CEO concerning a possible mutualization of the two operators' 5G networks should not help to pacify the debate.

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Source : ZDNet

On October 8th, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered SFR to send a letter to certain subscribers informing them that they can unilaterally terminate their fixed Internet access contract. Capital tells us that if the operator resists, it will have to pay 500,000 euros for each day of delay.

This legal procedure was initiated in January 2018 by its competitor Free. Indeed, although a decree has regulated the use of the word fibre since 2016, SFR has continued to maintain a certain vagueness in its commercial offers.

It is also accused of using the term FttB (Fiber to the Building) since, in some cases, its fiber does not go all the way down to the bottom of the building but only into a street cabinet.

Today SFR claims to have 3.1 million end-to-end fibre optic customers (FttH) and 13.8 million lines eligible for Very High Speed broadband.

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Source : 01net

On the evening of the second day of the auction, the State is already assured of pocketing at least €2.65 billion for the allocation of 5G frequencies in France.

Organised by Arcep, the auction covers eleven 10 MHz blocks coveted by Bouygues Telecom (Bouygues), Orange, Free (Iliad) and SFR (Altice).

Each of the 10 MHz blocks, put up for sale at a minimum price of €70 million, reached a new price of €114 million on the evening of 30 September. It had already risen to 90 million on the first day of the auction the day before. The Arcep specifies that the process will continue on Thursday.

Having already raised 1.4 billion euros during the non-auction allocation of four 50 MHz blocks - one per operator - the amount reached by the auction guarantees 2.65 billion euros to the State for the moment. Orange is still asking for five blocks, followed by SFR and Bouygues Telecom with three blocks each, then Iliad with just two blocks.

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Source : Challenges

This week, the Arcep unveiled its assessment of fiber optic deployments in the second quarter. And even though the milestone was reached under difficult containment conditions, half of French homes are now eligible for fiber optic cable. In fact, 1.2 million new lines were deployed between April and June. Fiber optic coverage of the territory is progressing at a "high rate", even if "the health situation related to Covid-19 has not allowed operators to continue the significant acceleration observed at the end of last year".

Despite severe restrictions due to the health crisis, work continued at a rate equivalent to that at the beginning of the year: around 400,000 lines per month. The equivalent of a town like Nemours or Granville... every day.

This dynamic allows us to calmly envisage the "five million new lines" in 2020 predicted by Minister Cédric O. If this pace is maintained for another two years, the executive will have kept its promise to bring fiber to 80% of French homes by the end of 2022.

However, the Arcep is showing its vigilance in one particular area: medium-sized cities. Indeed, in 2018 Orange and SFR made a commitment to the government and the regulator to cover them entirely with optical fiber by the end of 2020. And with 10.5 million connectable lines, they are still a long way off. Orange covers only 67% of households in the municipalities to which it has committed and SFR 75%.

In theory, they have nine months left to complete 5.5 million lines - an almost impossible task. Arcep's only concession: the deadline can be postponed by three months following the health crisis, as provided for in the government order on the extension of deadlines linked to the coronavirus. Even with this additional quarter, "the pace of deployments will be critical over the next few quarters and the Arcep will continue to be attentive to the efforts of operators", writes the Telecoms gendarme, who clearly has no intention of slackening on the subject.

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Source : Les Echos

The fixed Internet access service provided by SFR and Bouygues Telecom was unavailable for several hours last week. Indeed, the DNS (Domain Name System) servers of several operators were affected. "The DNS servers are used by all companies. It's a bit like a telephone directory. They translate the domain name of a website into an IP address to talk to it. So they have a key role as gatekeepers. They are often among the Top 3 critical applications for ISPs," explains Ronan David, head of strategy at Efficient IP.

The inability to connect, for most SFR and Bouygues Telecom customers last Tuesday, results from the fact that you use an operator's DNS servers by default when you subscribe to its fixed Internet access service. However, they could have connected to other DNS servers by configuring the network connection of their box because the DNS servers are always ready to communicate with everyone. And this is their weakness. "Since they are by definition very open, they are also very vulnerable. They are therefore prime targets for hackers," says Ronan David.

This type of aggression is common among ISPs, but SFR and Bouygues Telecom consider it particularly virulent. According to the Dutch DDoS protection organization NBIP, the DDoS (or denial of service) attack has also affected other ISPs in Belgium and the Netherlands. It recorded volumetric peaks of nearly 300 Gbit/s in volume. A level well above the average. Ronan David confirms, "The volume of 89% of DDos DNS attacks is below 50 Gbit/s. Here, it was up to 300 Gbit/s, six times more than usual. This is completely atypical."

This was a reflection attack, for example. "In the case of a DDos type DNS attack by amplification, there is one target, the DNS server, and then there is reflection, which means that other DNS servers are used to amplify the attacks and overwhelm the target server with requests so that it is no longer available," explains Ronan David.

Were other ISPs' DNS servers used to amplify the attack? Were SFR and Bouygues Telecom specifically targeted, or was their failure a collateral damage of a larger operation? Mystery, but this prospect would be daunting for all operators.

Another enigma remains to be solved: who are the attackers? Several hypotheses can be put forward. It could be a rogue gang... Unless the objective was political: to test communications and bring down an Internet gateway. In this case, it could be hostile foreign powers.

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Source : 01net

Ielo, which specialises in fibre networks for the wholesale market for corporate operators, has announced that it has raised funds to invest 160 million euros over five years in order to become the number three player in this market.

Although the amount of the fund-raising has not been specified, it is accompanied by the entry of a new shareholder into the group's capital: DIF Capital Partners, a European infrastructure fund.

The chairman and co-founder of Ielo, Arthur Fernandez, told AFP: "We are already going to commit 90 million euros over the next two years in order to develop our network. We are now present in all 30 metropolitan areas, and our aim is to extend our network to all prefectures within the next five years."

The objective is to become the third largest player in the wholesale market for business operators, behind the two giants Orange and SFR. "It is a highly fragmented market behind the two main players, with players that do not only wholesale. Our aim is to meet an expectation in this market, by emphasizing our neutrality and total control of our infrastructures, with our own tools. We will not compete with our customers", added Mr. Fernandez.

With 90 employees and a turnover of 13.5 million euros in 2019, the operator expects to remain on a strong growth dynamic for the current year despite the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Source : Le Figaro

The telecoms regulator has published a new timetable for the continuation of the 5G frequency allocation procedure in the 3.5 GHz band. It will therefore be between September 20th and 30th.  Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR, which qualified last February following a call for applications, will participate.

At the end of the procedure, they will each obtain a 50 GHz block in return for 350 million euros per head and a number of deployment obligations. In early autumn, the main auction will allow them to complete this first block by winning one or more 10 GHz blocks. This will be followed by an auction to position the resulting frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz section. The Arcep indicates that the final allocation of frequencies will take place "in October or November". Operators will thus be able to market their future 5G packages "by the end of the year".

However, in the end, operators will not be obliged to provide 5G coverage in at least two major cities before the end of 2020. The delay in the procedure has led the telecoms police to lift this obligation accompanying the first 50GHz block. The marketing will be done "at the initiative of the operators" even if the Arcep promises to remain attentive to the conditions of marketing of the new network and the promises of the operators.

The first obligation will therefore be to deploy 5G on at least 3,000 of their sites by the end of 2022. Operators will also have to distilled at least 240 Mb/s on 75 % of their sites into 4G+ by the same deadline.

This is a reminder that the specifications have been drawn up so that the deployment of 5G and 4G coverage of territories go hand in hand. It is also a response to Bouygues Telecom and SFR, who recently balanced the deployment of the 5th generation network against the need to improve 4G coverage in rural areas.

At the same time, Arcep also intends to respond to growing concerns about the environmental impact of digital technology. Within the framework of a new platform called "for a sustainable digital environment", "associations, institutions, operators, digital companies, personalities" are invited to contribute to it during a series of thematic workshops starting on July 9th.

A report by the end of the year will provide an opportunity to take stock of this work and will propose the "first avenues for taking the response to environmental issues further", which the Authority intends to make a "new chapter in regulation".

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Source : DegroupNews

While the 4G deployment figures had remained within the norm in March and April 2020, the stall finally occurred in May. 330 new sites brought into service by Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free according to data from the French National Frequencies Agency. The figure is relatively low but remains higher than last February or spring-summer 2019.

Nevertheless, the breakdown by operator shows a significant slowdown on the part of Orange and Free. The locomotives of the deployment over the past year respectively brought 154 and 230 new 4G sites into service in May, well below the pace observed in recent months. This slowdown cannot help but be associated with the health crisis. Operators have reported various difficulties during containment.

What's more, the number of new activated antennas is down 20 to 50% compared to the previous month at Free and Orange. Antenna activations on their current flagship bands have reached the lowest levels seen in a long time, 18 to 24 months in some cases.

There was also a general decline in the number of authorizations obtained by Free and 4G in 700 MHz. The number of authorizations received by Iliad's brand in this band, which has usually fluctuated between 500 and 1,000 per month for the past year, plunged to less than 200 in May.

At first glance, SFR and Bouygues Telecom appear to have been less affected by the disruptions despite a decline in activations and authorizations on several frequency bands. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions from this, as the pace of deployment of these two operators has been irregular for several months. It should be noted that only SFR seems to have felt the need to make extensive use of the derogatory mechanism put in place by the State to ensure the continuity of deployments, on 58 occasions.

With 155 new 4G media in service, Bouygues Telecom achieved its best month since December in May. In terms of antennas too, the operator set a six-month record: 556 more in May. Of these, 313 were in the 1,800 MHz frequency band, notably to serve a number of major cities (Paris, Lille), several major roads and seaside resorts, according to ANFR.

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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

As part of the France Très Haut Débit plan, the operator in the red square has undertaken to cover around 20% of medium-density fibre territories, compared with 80% for Orange. They are, however, obliged to open up these networks to other operators at "reasonable prices" under the Arcep.
However, SFR has recently decided to increase its tariffs and the move has irritated Bouygues Telecom's staff.

Bouygues Telecom, like other operators, considers that the rates charged by SFR are no longer "reasonable". So much so that Martin Bouygues' operator formally filed a request for dispute settlement with Arcep more than two months ago. In detail, SFR's so-called "co-financing" tariff has been increased from EUR 5.32 to EUR 5.80 per line per month as of 1 February. The rental price for a single line rose from EUR 16.40 to EUR 16.73 per month.

SFR was already more expensive than Orange before its price increase. These prices are all the more unjustified since connecting to the network of the operator with the red square is, for technical reasons, more expensive than at Orange. Some argue that SFR's strategy is designed to discourage its rivals from offering competing fibre offers in the medium-density area.

This risk was recently mentioned by the chairman of Arcep, Sébastien Soriano: "Today, in private areas, Arcep is working on a project in progress, since one of the major operators deploying fibre has pricing practices that raise questions. I mean that we are working on it. The Arcep will not leave any stowaways in the system. It will not let a player take advantage of the situation to charge higher prices by having established a private monopoly. You can count on the Arcep to dot the i's on that."

A good connoisseur of the sector, however, tempers criticism of SFR. On the one hand, he argues that Patrick Drahi's operator has a higher cost base than Orange. On the other hand, he wonders why Bouygues Telecom only applies to Arcep today, when the rental price of SFR's line has remained stable since 2012. He also believes that Bouygues Telecom could also have chosen to co-invest, at least in part, with SFR, instead of resorting solely to the rental of single lines. In any event, it is now up to the regulator to arbitrate.

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Source : La Tribune

A saturation of the Internet networks was mentioned several times at the beginning of the containment. A risk that is globally non-existent except locally on over-solicited mobile antennas. This is what nPerf has just revealed in a study specially dedicated to the impact of containment on Internet speeds. The specialist in connection evaluation thus observes a slight drop in performance on mobile networks, but that of fixed connections has not weakened.

Indeed, mobile networks in residential areas were not really designed to handle the extra traffic overnight. They were used much more than in normal times, and the fact that all residents shared the same antenna meant that they were unable to deliver their usual performance.

A 10% drop in average flow rates, i.e. 4 Mb/s, was observed on average over the end of March. Accompanied by a drop in browsing performance, notably at Orange and Free, while streaming remained stable. Despite this, nPerf believes that the overall picture remains "very acceptable" for the four operators.

On the other hand, confinement has not really had a negative impact on fixed Internet speeds. According to the tests compiled, the overall situation even tended to improve at the end of March. This is the case at Bouygues Telecom, SFR and Orange, with the exception of Free.

Fiber Internet speeds remained stable overall at Orange and Free. For its part, SFR has posted steady growth since the beginning of the year, which has not been contradicted despite the containment. Bouygues Telecom's Internet bandwidths also increased at the end of the quarter.

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Source : Ariase