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

The executive's discourse seems to have evolved over the summer on the issue of digital planning. The future recovery plan will not forget fiber since the plan will provide additional funds to support areas where some 3 million lines remain to be financed.

This financial boost is part of a more ambitious project, outlined by Cédric O: moving towards a "universal service" for fiber.

The first piece of information delivered by the Secretary of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications: the subsidy window for public fiber deployment projects is going to be replenished.

Until now, the government has refused to go beyond 280 million euros in subsidies, when both local authorities and manufacturers calculated total needs at 680 million euros. 680 million. Last May, in a letter sent to the executive, local authority associations warned that "a reassessment of this envelope will have to be studied in light of the financial situation of local authorities, the higher deployment costs associated with health measures and the higher than expected number of catches to be deployed".

Unveiled next week, the recovery plan will provide more details on the effort the government is prepared to make on this specific point.

Additional funds to generalize fiber, yes, but "with the ambition to move towards the logic that fiber must be an essential service," added Cédric O. The government seems to be aligning itself with a request made by local authorities, since this would allow "professionals in the sector to continue to ensure the deployment and operation of fixed and mobile networks in the event of a crisis". It would also provide an opportunity to remove certain obstacles to deployment, such as access to common areas to fiber the risers of buildings.

If the idea of making fiber an essential infrastructure met with the reservations of the former Minister of the City and Housing - in charge of the THD dossier - this is however what the executive wants to work towards today: "we want to work on the notion of universal service," indeed added Cédric O. A project that could start as early as this fall, when the European Electronic Communications Code is transposed into French law. "This should enable us to extend the concept of universal service to include fiber coverage of the territory," the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs added.

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Source : DegroupNews