To estimate the number of premises to be connected to fibre optics in France, the Arcep has hitherto relied on INSEE data. However, a few days ago, the contours became clearer with the integration into its data of the IPE (Information Préalable Enrichée) files from the operators. This information has long been requested by the Association of Local Authorities for the Digital Economy (Avicca) and which it hastened to examine.

The result: of the 9,000 municipalities for which the IPE files are now authentic, the number of premises is much higher than previously estimated. In particular in the AMII zone, a notorious casus belli between the operators who deploy there and Avicca. Avicca counted "1.82 million premises not accounted for" in the old reference system, which was set at around 13.5 million. Orange and SFR made binding commitments to the government on this basis. By this yardstick, "objectives that already seemed unattainable - even before the current health crisis - now seem unrealistic," comments Avicca.

In order to take into account the strong disruptions caused by the health crisis, the association is calling for a "freeze" on the timetable, but "Covid-19 could not be held solely responsible for all the delays that Avicca and Arcep have been measuring for years", it continues. Already heard this week from the regulator's side, this speech is making the operators get off their hinges.

In the other zones, the additional premises are more limited. The association calculates 300,000 homes and other establishments more than expected in very dense areas, and nearly 500,000 in areas of public initiative. Enough to encourage the members of the association dependent on RIP to be "vigilant", concludes Avicca.

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Source : DegroupNews

Sébastien Soriano, the president of Arcep, was heard on the issue of network deployment by the Senate commission on regional planning and sustainable development. The latter sent him a "strong request" to maintain the schedules, even in the current context, and urged the regulator to "exercise its power of control and sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the objectives assigned to them".

Adjustments will no doubt be necessary, but the commission points out that "the current crisis also reveals the flaws of our digital society", since "part of our population is now disconnected as well as being confined".

The two major projects currently underway are the France Very High Speed Internet plan for the deployment of fibre optics and the New Deal Mobile to accelerate 4G deployment.

Even if a shift in the timetable is likely, the Senate committee calls for the Arcep to be firm in its consideration of requests for extensions to deadlines in order "not to accept any delay justified by the crisis". It also asks operators to make a financial effort "in the direction of lower-ranking companies" to support the sector and avoid its disorganisation.

For his part, the president of the Arcep indicated that the risks of network saturation were under control thanks to the measures taken by operators and the empowerment of consumers and video content providers. However, this aspect will have to be developed after the crisis, even if it means introducing a "derogation proportionate to the neutrality of the Web".

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Source : Génération NT

Whether through the development of teleworking, videoconferencing or recreational uses, the French are making greater use of the various telecommunications networks, both fixed and mobile, during this period. But the situation seems to be under control in France.

In an interview by Les Dernières Nouvelles D'Alsace, Arthur Dreyfuss, President of the French Telecom Federation, explains: "We have seen an unprecedented increase in the number of connections from the very first hours and this is maintained throughout the confinement. [...] The need for telecoms networks is vital for work, entertainment and information."

And according to him, France is doing better than some of its neighbours. "But unlike other European countries, the networks in France hold, and help to ensure the country's continuity. [...] This is because operators have invested 20 billion in two years in infrastructure and they are collectively committed during this period."

He also points out that "despite the difficulties related to containment, technicians are working hard to meet the commitments, continuing deployments to bring new connections into service, in particular the antennas on the 140 mobile sites that are being pooled under construction. But we are facing many operational difficulties related to the crisis, which are obviously causing us to fall behind".

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Source : Univers Freebox

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

Even though its network had not yet been built, Free Mobile was able to play a real role as the fourth largest telecoms operator on the French market as soon as it arrived in 2012. How did this happen? Thanks to the 2G / 3G roaming agreement negotiated with Orange.

An agreement validated by the Arcep on the condition that it is only temporary. Roaming between Orange and Free was therefore scheduled to end at the end of 2020 but both operators have just requested an extension until the end of 2022.

On February 24th, the Arcep indicated that it had received an amendment announcing an extension until December 31, 2022. This amendment is justified by "the impossibility for Free Mobile to catch up with the market coverage standard which has increased significantly with the Crozon mutualisation agreement and the New Deal obligations despite a very proactive deployment".

Free also points to the need for 2G coverage in order to maintain a certain number of subscribers in 2G but without having the resources to deploy a network. In addition, the other operators maintain 2G as a "fallback technology in certain situations, particularly indoors at peak times".

This news is not going to be well received by Bouygues Telecom and SFR. Indeed, they have constantly denounced the roaming agreement between their competitors, considering it to be a competitive advantage for Free.

SFR's representatives are already castigating Free's decision to distribute dividends and to try to prolong the agreement instead of investing in its networks.

SFR and Bouygues Telecom have announced the suspension of the payment of dividends, but this is also in order to benefit from government aid linked to the short-time working of some of the staff.

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Source : Génération NT

The data published by the National Frequency Agency for the month of March shows that the health crisis has not really had a visible impact in figures on the deployment of 4G.

In fact, as of April 1st, ANFR recorded a 1% increase in requests for authorizations and activation of 4G sites from one month to the next. This is the usual rate, but the restrictions were not put in place until mid-March and there may be a delay between the installation of an antenna and its activation.

The impact is likely to be observable in the data for the coming months as operators are now giving priority to the maintenance and resizing of their networks. The objective is to cope with the high demand on the networks - voice and data - and the new geographical situation brought about by confinement.

The emergency law voted to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic includes a digital infrastructure component for mobile operators. They will be able to use a "simplified procedure for sites that will ensure continuity of service". However, this initiative is too recent to be included in the March report, as "the request for authorisation of sites authorised on 1 April was received before this system was applicable", explains the ANFR.

Orange was the most dynamic in March, with 350 new sites, followed by SFR (276), Free (251) and Bouygues Telecom (83). The incumbent operator maintained its leadership in terms of the number of 4G sites operated (21,830), ahead of SFR (19,000), Bouygues Telecom (18,188) and Free (15,586).

The situation is slightly different in terms of the number of activated antennas. Orange is also the leader here with 1,481 new activations. But it is Free that we find behind with 1,016 activated antennas. Activity was significantly less intense in March at SFR (553) and Bouygues Telecom (352).

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Source : DegroupNews

The Internet is made up of access links that route traffic to high-bandwidth routers and accompany the traffic from its source to its destination using the best available path.

In order to ensure that Internet traffic can be routed anywhere in the world, these individual high-speed fibre optic networks must be interconnected. This interconnection is therefore called backbone or Internet backbone interconnection. Each network is owned by Internet operators, usually private, Tier 1 operators whose networks are interconnected.

These Tier 1 Internet operators create a single global network by bundling their long-distance networks, allowing each of them to access the entire Internet routing table. This allows them to efficiently route traffic to its destination through a succession of local, tier 2 and tier 3 providers. These backbone operators all use the same shared network protocol: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)/IP (Internet Protocol).

The networks of these Tier 1 operators are connected at the IXP (Internet Exchange Point) level. These exchange nodes, being equipped with high-speed switches and routers, allow traffic to be routed between peers (participants connected to the exchange node using the BGP protocol to make traffic). These interconnection points are often owned by third parties, sometimes on a non-profit basis, thus facilitating the unification of the backbone.

Tier 1 operators participating in the IXP contribute to their financing, but do not charge each other for carrying the traffic of other Tier 1 operators. This type of relationship is known as "peering" or "peering without agreement". Peering avoids possible financial disputes that could impact Internet performance.

There are smaller Tier 2 (Tier 2) and Tier 3 (Tier 3) operators. Tier 3 operators allow businesses and consumers to access the Internet. As these Tier 3 operators do not have their own access to the Internet backbone, they contract with Tier 2 or regional ISPs that have their own networks to carry traffic to a limited geographical area.

As access does not concern all devices connected to the Internet, the second-tier providers in turn contract with the first-tier providers to have access to the global backbone.

In summary, traffic originating from a computer on one side of the globe can connect to a connected computer on the other side of the globe by sending the traffic to a Tier 3 operator. This operator routes the traffic to a Tier 2 operator who redirects it to a Tier 1 backbone operator. The latter then redirects it to the appropriate Tier 2 operator. The operator itself sends this traffic to a Tier 3 operator who delivers the traffic to the destination computer.

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Source : Le Monde Informatique

With the coronavirus crisis, the France Very High Speed Internet Plan, which aims to offer all French people a high-speed fixed Internet connection by 2022, is under threat. This huge project has indeed slowed down considerably with the containment measures.

The president of InfraNum, Étienne Dugas, warns: "If nothing is done, everything could stop within two weeks." At the end of the line, a lot of small and medium-sized companies could fall. Beyond the economic and social breakdown, he estimates that it will take months to restructure the sector and thus relaunch the machine once the epidemic is over.

To avoid such a scenario, Étienne Dugas believes it is essential to maintain fibre deployment activity at the current level. He therefore requested the support of the executive last April 1st during a meeting between representatives of the Telecoms sector and the ministers in charge of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities.

Both InfraNum and the French Telecommunications Federation (FFT) consider it essential that the government publish its Covid-19 guide for the construction industry as soon as possible in order to provide a framework enabling workers deploying fibre to work in safety. Especially since according to InfraNum and the FFT the FFP1 protective masks are sufficient.

Another concern of the industrialists is that many subcontractors can no longer work due to a lack of agreement from the communities. While others have difficulty accessing buildings to connect them to the fibre. Infranum is therefore asking the government to take steps to remove these obstacles.

Finally, an appeal has been launched to provide financial assistance to the fibre industry to keep the most fragile subcontractors afloat. According to Étienne Dugas, the major operators must also "make an effort to enable the sector to survive this tsunami."

Asked about this, the CEO of the FFT, Michel Combot, emphasizes that "the crisis has an impact on the turnover of operators." According to him, Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom are considering ways to support their own chains of subcontractors. "Discussions are underway. Operators could take different types of measures, such as efforts on payment deadlines. We are well aware of our global responsibility."

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Source : La Tribune

On March 30th, the European Union's telecoms regulatory agency (ORECE) said that no major Internet congestion problems had occurred since the start of the Covid-19 health crisis: "Network operators have been able to cope with this additional traffic load". While overall traffic on fixed and mobile networks has increased significantly, there has been no major downtime across Europe due to possible over-consumption of bandwidth, she explained.

The statement comes after worrying predictions by several experts that the Internet infrastructure may not be able to cope with the increase in traffic.

Although some Internet access problems were "observed and mitigated," they were deemed "local and temporary." No unusual incidents were observed by the agency, which also commended the telecom operators in some member countries for implementing specific measures.

In some EU Member States, the ORECE noted "a stabilisation of traffic", but also "a decrease in peak traffic". This decrease is attributed to "traffic reduction measures" put in place by "some of the largest CAPs", a term used to refer to Internet content and service providers.

Indeed, two weeks ago, the agency formally requested video streaming services to reduce the quality of service for European users in order to avoid overloading the EU's Internet architecture. The first to agree were Netflix and YouTube and have started to provide SD streams. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Facebook responded later and also capped the quality of video streaming for the EU.

Although not approached by the ORECE officials, Akamai, Microsoft and Sony also slowed down game downloads during peak hours to avoid congesting the Internet infrastructure when a new game or update is released and deployed to millions of users.

Some experts, however, have publicly criticised the agency's call, castigating unnecessary panic. Several ISPs said that the Internet backbone had been specially designed for times like these and is therefore designed to handle sudden and very large volumes of traffic.

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Source : ZDNet

Following the Government's announcements concerning the Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic, the Rezopole office (16, rue de la Thibaudière 69007 Lyon) is closed until further notice.

As part of the continuity plan and in order to keep the various IXP / NAPs (LyonIX, GrenoblIX, AnnecIX & APIX) operational, the teams remain mobilized for teleworking and can be reached through the usual channels (email, telephone, videoconferencing).

For Rezopole members with an urgent technical question, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +33 4 27 46 00 55.

We will keep you informed as the situation develops.

Wishing you good luck during this period.

The Rezopole team

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+33 4 27 46 00 50

On March 10th, Internet exchanges around the world recorded spikes in traffic. There are two reasons for this record level: the increased use of the Internet linked to the spread of Coronavirus and the release of a new game Call of Duty.

One of the key strategies to slow the spread of the virus is social distancing and crowd avoidance. Many companies have already asked their employees to work from home. This trend is expected to increase in the coming days as the number of cases in the United States and Europe increases. At the same time, universities are turning to online course delivery.

These decisions increase their reliance on data networks that allow for video streaming and collaboration. Kentik, a network operating company, said it has "seen an approximate 200% increase in video conferencing during working hours" in North America and Asia.

This increase in business traffic collided with the release of "Call of Duty: Warzone" on Tuesday, March 10. The release caused congestion and delays on major Internet networks, as well as record traffic.

Frankfurt's DE-CIX, one of the world's busiest interconnection points, announced on Tuesday evening a new peak traffic of more than 9.1 terabits per second, an increase of 800 gigabits per second (Gbps) compared to two weeks ago.

"Whether it's exchanging information, streaming movies, playing games online, or the exceptional situation people are currently experiencing with the COVID-19 virus, Internet use is playing an increasingly important role," said Dr. Thomas King, DE-CIX's Chief Technology Officer.

Internet use is likely to increase further in the coming days as more and more companies adopt teleworking and school systems begin to offer online courses.

"As the world faces uncertainty, the digital economy continues to allow the global economy to continue to evolve. ... Teleworking via videoconferencing on applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco and Slack are key examples of our clients helping the world's largest companies enable and conduct business," said Marc Ganzi, CEO of Digital Bridge, part of Colony Capital's digital infrastructure business, which includes fiber, cell tower, and data center operators DataBank and Vantage.

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Source : Data Center Frontier

Due to too many uncertainties related to the Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic and as a preventive measure, Rezopole has taken the decision to postpone the Aperezo from March 18th. The protection of all stakeholders remains our priority.

The postponement date will be communicated to you as soon as possible.

We thank you for your understanding and hope to see you again very soon.

The Communication Department

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+33 4 27 46 00 53

This partnership between Orange and Free - known as the "passive mutualisation agreement" - will last at least five years and aims to share and build together mobile phone masts in rural areas. In other words, the operators would share masts and their operating costs, but each would graft its own radio equipment onto them. The territories concerned are located in a so-called "priority deployment zone" (or PDZ), i.e. rural territories where mobile coverage is poor or insufficient.

In general, this type of agreement allows operators to significantly lower their costs in order to cover sparsely populated and therefore unprofitable areas. However, the stakes here are a little different for Orange.

Today, any operator wishing to deploy a new tower in the ZDP is faced with a "prior consultation obligation". He must warn his rivals to find out if they are interested in sharing the site. This obligation appeared in January 2018 during the New Deal in order to put an end to the "white" and "grey" zones. But at the time, this provision was unacceptable for Orange, which considered it ruined all these efforts to differentiate the ZDP.

The Arcep then reviewed its copy and proposed that if an operator made an offer to one of its rivals for passive pooling in ZDPs that it considered reasonable, then the obligation of prior consultation could be waived. Orange therefore asked the regulator to lift this obligation. Free made the same request, but only for sites that would be co-constructed with Orange.

For its part, the Arcep has launched a public consultation to gather the sector's opinion on this subject but also concerning a possible removal, for all players, of this obligation.

The question of the pooling of mobile infrastructures has become eminently strategic for operators with the arrival of 5G next summer. SFR and Bouygues Telecom have long shared a large part of their mobile infrastructures in less densely populated areas. A similar agreement between Orange and Free would enable them to be more competitive. This is particularly true for Xavier Niel's operator, which is forced to make greater efforts to improve its national coverage.

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Source : La Tribune

The appeals lodged by Priartem and Agir pour l'environnement have just been rejected by the Council of State. The administrative judge considers that the character of urgency is not fulfilled and will rule on the merits of the case in the summer of 2020.

Four appeals had been filed in mid-February 2020 in which the two associations requested the immediate suspension of the decree setting the conditions for the allocation of 5G frequencies and the decree organising the tender procedure. They criticized the lack of an environmental assessment prior to deployment and its environmental and health consequences.

The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses) made similar criticisms in its preliminary report published at the end of February 2020. It explained that it regretted the lack of statistical data on the health effects of exposure to certain frequencies used by 5G.

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Source : L'Usine Digitale