Fiber deployment: a worrying slowdown?


Alexander Boero

November 24, 2022 at 12:05 p.m.

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Optical fiber © shutterstock.com

© Shutterstock

The boss of Arcep, Laure de la Raudière, is worried about the slowdown in the deployment mechanism of fiber in certain territories. It takes the opportunity to alert on the state of certain lines, which require rapid interventions.

Infrastructure operators Altitude Infra and XpFibre will have to repair some of their networks, which are experiencing a higher than average failure rate. And while we must act quickly, the president of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution, Laure de la Raudière, warns of a slowdown that she judges ” worrying about the pace of fiber deployment in certain areas.

The deployment of fiber is not going fast enough, while the end of copper is already scheduled

According to the leader, the deployment in dense areas and moderately dense areas, known as AMII (Call for expression of investment intention), is slowing down. The fault lies with the areas under RIP (Public Initiative Network), these remote areas overseen by local authorities, within which operators have postponed their investment efforts.

Areas AMII AMEL RIP Clubic © Clubic

© Alexandre Boero/Clubic

And the slowdown in fiber deployment is not without risk. Let’s not forget that the historic copper network (ADSL) will no longer be maintained by 2030, and that the end of the marketing of ADSL services is scheduled for 2026. Normally, the deployment of optical fiber is supposed to overcome these imperatives. But Arcep begins to doubt.

We could ask Orange not to close (Editor’s note: the copper network) on certain batches if they were not sufficiently covered by the fiber “Nevertheless warns Laure de la Raudière. The operator Orange, he would see his desire to reduce costs (by the end of the copper network) tarnished, necessarily. Because the longer this aging network will last and retain subscribers, the higher the bill for maintenance and upkeep will be proportionally high for the company.

Infrastructure operators to refurbish 430,000 fiber lines by end of 2024

A small remote duel seems to be taking place between Arcep and the operators. In a press release, the authority indicates that “ 2% of the fleet of fiber optic lines, mainly located in Île-de-France, have a failure rate much higher than the average “. We are talking here about a small number of networks, but 430,000 premises nevertheless, that is as many subscribers. But who should restore these lines?

These are obviously the players in the sector. The infrastructure operator XpFibre (a subsidiary of Altice France) has made a commitment to the regulator to restore no less than 900 pooling points, in Île-de-France and in the Rhône, for a total of 400 000 premises, by the end of 2024.

Altitude Infra (partner of many operators), for its part, will refurbish 70 pooling points in Essonne and Calvados by the end of next March. 33,000 premises concerned.

For now, about 50% of fixed line subscribers have switched to a fiber subscription. The mission of operators and their subcontractors remains colossal, and Arcep seems determined to keep an eye on things, to meet deadlines as much as possible.

Source : Le Figaro, ARCEP



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