Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free have announced measures aimed at resolving poor workmanship problems on fiber optic networks. A response to criticism from the government and local authorities.
Fiber optic networks have faced quality problems for years. Customers complain of wild disconnections and other malfunctions, largely due to unscrupulous technicians.
In response, the French Telecoms Federation (FFT) and the main national operators have announced in recent days measures to assess and improve the quality of their work. Among them: the creation of new quality indicators, the sharing of real-time information on interventions and a call for more severe criminal sanctions against acts of vandalism.
Drastic measures to eradicate vandalism on fiber
Operators, subject to senators’ depression, have unveiled measures aimed at finally resolving the quality problems of fiber optic networks. Faced with criticism regarding wild disconnections and other malfunctions, Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free will put in place new indicators to measure the quality of their work.
Players in the sector will start by putting in place systems that will allow information regarding interventions on the networks to be shared in real time. The objective here is to improve the fluidity of industrial processes and increase their accountability.
The FFT also urges the authorities to take stricter measures against acts of vandalism targeting fiber optic networks. According to the federation, each year, some 70 acts of vandalism are committed there.
This figure is particularly important, in a context where the deployment of optical fiber in France, started in 2010, has reached new heights with 32.1 million very high-speed subscriptions. The emphasis is now placed on improving the quality of connections to the network, with an effort on training workers and monitoring interventions.
Towards optimal quality of service thanks to operators?
The operators insist on the importance of the exemplary nature of subcontractors and technicians as well as the successful implementation of recovery plans for accident-prone and damaged networks.
In addition to the measures already in place, telecom operators have decided to initiate additional actions aimed at increasing transparency on network quality, by providing new indicators reflecting customer perception and relating to their industrial processes. The real-time sharing of information on interventions to streamline industrial processes, which we talked about above, is part of this.
We mentioned malicious acts on the lines, we also know that the sustainability of fiber optic networks also depends on more severe criminal sanctions against acts of vandalism. In any case, this is the call launched by Orange, SFR and the others.
The entire telecommunications industry is in any case mobilized to successfully complete the deployment of optical fiber by the end of 2025. The various actions mentioned will be carried out in close collaboration with public authorities, with the aim of find collective solutions to improve the user experience. Because that remains the primary goal.
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