Arcep revealed that, for the first time, the number of fiber subscribers had exceeded the number of Internet users connected to copper in France.
It is a symbolic milestone, but no less important than France has just passed. For the first time, the number of subscribers to an FttH fiber package has indeed exceeded that of DSL subscribers.
In its quarterly report published on Thursday, Arcep – the telecoms policeman – has indeed taken stock of the evolution of practices and the different habits of the French in terms of mobile Internet use, but also fixed. This report thus aims to take stock of the fourth quarter of 2021. However, among the main lessons is the first place of optical fiber in terms of fixed Internet, now ahead of the DSL copper network.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Arcep thus indicates that 14.5 million French households benefited from a fiber connection, compared to 14.4 million with an ADSL, SDSL, DVSL2 HD and THD connection.
Concretely, this growth of optical fiber is mainly explained by the abandonment of the DSL network by the French, explains Arcep: “Broadband subscriptions on the copper DSL network in particular are falling at an accelerated pace (-2.9 million in one year this quarter compared to –2.5 million a year earlier). Thus, as of December 31, 2021, out of a total of 31.5 million internet accesses, 18.4 million are very high-speed (58%, +10 points in one year), within which the vast majority are subscriptions FttH (79%, +8 points in one year). »
Thus, while the number of fixed Internet subscriptions in France remains relatively stable, rising from 30.6 to 31.5 million between the end of 2020 and the end of 2021, there is essentially a transfer of subscriptions from copper broadband to very high speed fiber. :
In the fixed services market, all of the growth in the number of internet subscriptions over the past year has come from that of end-to-end fiber optic access. A total of 14.5 million accesses were active on these networks in the fourth quarter of 2021, which represents an annual growth of 4.1 million. For the first time, this number exceeds that of high-speed and very high-speed Internet access on copper DSL networks: 14.4 million this quarter.
Growth that accompanies the number of households eligible for fiber
This growth in very high speed is also explained by the growing number of eligible households. “Nearly half of the 29.7 million premises can now be connected to this technology, i.e. +6 points in one year”indicates Arcep.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, 49% of homes eligible for fiber had therefore switched to an FttH connection. This is also the highest rate observed since the deployment of the network in France.
The acceleration of the deployment of fiber in France is a boon for operators who can also charge fiber subscriptions at a higher price than DSL subscriptions, as indicated by Arcep: “Revenue from fixed broadband and very high-speed services is growing at a sustained pace, and which had not been so high for four years: + 4% in one year this quarter, which represents almost one point of growth extra in one year. Operator customers are billed an average of 33.5 euros excluding tax per month for internet, telephony and audiovisual services, ie + 30 euro cents in one year”.
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