In Essonne, two companies which suffered delays in fiber optic repair work were condemned. They will have to pay penalties amounting to several hundred thousand euros.
This is an affair which will, once again, have lasted several years. In 2011, the Intercommunal Union of the Periphery of Paris for Energy and Communication Networks (SIPPEREC) concluded a 25-year public service delegation agreement (DSP), with two Ile-de-France companies, for maintenance, redevelopment and the repair of the fiber optic network in Essonne. Redevelopment work was actually carried out in July 2018. Nothing went as planned…
Optical fiber redevelopment work which has fallen significantly behind schedule
In June 2021, the service providers, the companies Tutor, based in Courbevoie, and MGP Contracting, based in Brie-Comte-Robert, had still not carried out the work for which they had been hired. It was planned that the two companies would modernize the FttH (optical fiber to the home) network of Europ’Essonne, the former community of municipalities.
The two players, since bought by the infrastructure operator Covage (which itself belongs to the Altitude group), were asked to pay 1.3 million euros in penalties for the first, and 238,000 euros for the second. , due to the significant delays incurred. It was obviously the mixed union which demanded these sums.
In 2020, SIPPEREC asked service providers, upstream, to provide it with a realistic timetable, due to the health crisis. Tutor committed to starting the fiber redevelopment program in September 2019 and completing the work within 14 months. MGP Contracting was initially scheduled to complete its work in July 2019.
The administrative judge confirms the responsibility of the two service providers
When judging the responsibility of each of the two actors and establishing the amount of penalties to be paid, the judges of the administrative court of Versailles, who made public their decision of January 19, 2024, had to deal with the health crisis.
The court, which was only able to establish the correct amount by focusing only on the period preceding the first confinement, decided to reduce the penalties paid to 600,000 euros, considering in passing that the amount of 1.3 million The euros claimed from Tutor exceeded the contractual ceiling. The company remains liable for a debt of 300,000 euros.
On the other hand, the administrative judge dismissed the request from MGP Contracting, which contested, like Tutor, the amount of the penalties.
Source : Actu.fr
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