Even if the deployment of fibre optics is beating all records, there are still many hurdles to overcome in order to guarantee very high speed broadband.

Starting with the quality of service, a subject that continues to mobilise the authorities. The failure rate for final connections is still around 17%, compared with 25% a few months ago. Although there is some improvement on this front and the 'noodle dishes' in the mutualisation points and the optical connection points are tending to decrease, the situation is not without irritation for Cedric O.

When questioned, the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs did not mince his words against infrastructure operators, who are in charge of deploying fibre optics on the territory. "If qualitatively, things seem to be going a little better, we are not at the end of the story," he said, before pointing to the responsibility of Orange and XpFibre (ex-SFR FttH) in this matter.

The two operators have still not ratified the new version of the subcontracting contract with the commercial operator (STOC), unlike their competitors - Altitude, Axione and TDF. Implemented a few months ago, the V2 of this contractual framework is intended to restore order to relations between building operators, commercial operators and their subcontractors.

Although the delay accumulated by XpFibre and Orange in signing the STOC V2 contract should soon be resolved, the infrastructure operators still have work to do to remedy the defects in the final connection. This problem of the quality of final connections is not new. A working group set up by Arcep on the subject was already reporting in 2019 on "significant rates of defects in the execution of final connection and cross-connection operations at the point of mutualisation".

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Source : ZDNet

On 20 July, the operators submitted their plan of attack to improve the quality of connections to the government. For the French Federation of Telecoms (FFT), there is no question of letting these malfunctions damage the image of fibre and hinder its deployment in the short and medium term.

This opinion is shared by all telecom stakeholders. "Good quality [of connections] is essential to ensure the operation of FttH networks under good conditions, to ensure their sustainability and to limit the additional costs associated with recovery or reinstatement work," Arcep points out. The same is true of operators, who regret that damage to network infrastructure, whether deliberate or not, does not harm their image or that of fibre.

Last May, the infrastructure operators had already made a series of commitments to improve the quality of connections by changing the subcontracting contract (STOC mode) that governs the market. Now it is the turn of commercial operators to tackle the problem head on. In this white paper, they propose various ways to put an end to "noodle dishes".

In addition to training their field staff, the operators also advocate the widespread use of a new form of engineering within shared cabinets. This new architecture, known as the "M" shape, "makes cross-connection more fluid and intuitive, thanks to a colour code for the paths". The latter are thus campaigning for the generalisation of this system on a national scale.

In addition, and in order to allow for a better audit of connections already made, the operators wish to generalise a new type of photographic report, "which provides for time-stamped photos to be taken before and after each intervention, making it possible to control the quality of the work carried out by the participants and to rapidly detect the appearance of defects". Launched at the beginning of the year, the tool nevertheless suffers from a few limitations: "the controller's inability, whether human or mechanised based on artificial intelligence, to ensure that the optical positions occupied are in accordance with what is planned". This is a major shortcoming, as it is common for this malfunction to lead to bottlenecks in the cabinets.

The operators also want to rely on an interoperator application, called "e-Mutation", which aims to help technicians improve their visibility of the lightpaths used in a given cabinet. They also announced the forthcoming launch of an interoperators IT tool to track a fault from notification to resolution.

The last point concerns the National Address Database (BAN), a public database that aims to reference the address of all premises in France. The database, which can be used in the form of an API by operators, has been criticised for its shortcomings, particularly in rural areas. "It is essential that local authorities quickly acquire a complete address database," explain the operators, who rely on this information in their connection operations.

Will this put an end to the proliferation of noodle dishes? At least that is what the operators are hoping for. Especially since the timing is critical for the adoption of fibre, while the rollout of very high speed broadband continues in all directions in metropolitan France. Fibre professionals expect to deploy 6.2 million sockets in 2021. This should exceed the government's objectives in this area, with forecasts of 87% of homes connected to fibre in 2022, instead of the 80% initially desired by the public authorities.

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Source : ZDnet

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