an internet network for a village of 4,500 people created in La Myre-Mory

He is on his 27^e Tour de France and is experienced in the exercise. Henri Terreaux, events and major projects director for the Orange group, has the difficult task of routing and ensuring the communications network for one of the most watched sporting events in the world. “Each Tour is a five-month job for a team of 56 people,” he announces. Our mission is to ensure the transmission of all images and data generated during the Tour, from the village installed at the finish stage. »

A village of 4,500 people will be set up in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in Myre-Mory, for one day. Quarter for the runners and the organization, it mainly includes a press room for 99 TV channels, 66 radio stations, 37 photo agencies and where 256 journalists will be based: “They all need to transmit data,” continues Henri. Potting soil. We also provide video surveillance of the Tour, via six cameras posted on the site, and send the images to the security PC based in Pau. We arrive with three trucks and a telephone center on wheels. »

A neighborhood to fiber

This ephemeral network is responsible for transmitting, throughout the Aurillac-Villeneuve-sur-Lot stage, the images captured by the two motorcycle cameras and the two helicopters which follow the riders for France Télévision and the international channels, NBC or Eurosport. : “These images are sent back to our Orange planes, at 3,500 feet, equipped with four dishes under their wings, then to our Octopus control truck, via a 60-meter crane. »

From year to year, the device increases its capacity, with distribution in more and more countries and increasingly powerful cameras. Thursday July 11, on the Myre-Mory site, Orange will install a network capable of supporting 20 to 30 gigabytes, or half of the city’s throughput in normal times, all via fiber. With the arrival of the Tour, the Myre-Mory district will therefore be permanently equipped: “It was the biggest problem we had in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. It’s an easy site for us, there is a single finish area, for the staff, the runners and the press room. On certain other stages, the latter is more than 10 kilometers away,” notes Henri Terreaux.

In a few hours, on the night of July 10 to 11, his team will have to pull 200 lines, 18 kilometers of fiber and 60 to 75 kilometers of electrical cables. A project that starts at 2 a.m., with the aim of having everything connected by 7 a.m. “Then, we ensure transmissions until 9 p.m., when the last journalists leave the press room. Then we move on to cleaning the site before leaving again at night. We are like a circus moving ahead of the Tour. »

4G in unequipped areas

To ensure the transmission of images throughout the Aurillac-Villeneuve-sur-Lot stage, Henri Terreaux’s team must ensure that 4G is accessible throughout the route. So, phone in hand, they made the trip by car to identify areas with low flow and remedy them. Nérac, Fumel and Monflanquin were part of it and will therefore benefit from an increase in the power of the network which will remain once the Tour has passed.