The end of the optical fiber project in France is about to become more complex, communities are sounding the alarm.
Fiber for all in 2025 was the objective of the France Très Haut Débit plan, and the beginnings were promising: 38 million homes covered in 10 years, an example in Europe, nearly 87% of eligible French households , for nearly 35 billion euros according to calculations by France Stratégie. However, as the deadline announced by the President of the Republic approaches, concerns are emerging and becoming more and more serious.
Completeness remains a concern since inequalities still persist greatly depending on the territories and zones (Very dense, moderately dense and rural (RIP)). In large cities, deployments are at a standstill, in AMII zones, it is restarting very timidly while the RIPs continue at a good pace and are catching up. “Since 2017, the alarm has been sounded about the end of the connection. The communities, which started much later, will end up beating the private sector in terms of network completeness.” points out Ariel Turpin, president of Avicca which brings together many communities involved in digital technology. In addition, some places are more complex than others to connect, with for example more than 440,000 cases where the infrastructure is out of order (clogged conduit, broken pole, etc.) and 1.3 billion euros would need to be released to repair it. this damage. An amount that no one wants to pay. “ For individuals, paying for this type of work, which can cost up to 3,000 euros, is not possible. », indicates Philippe Le Grand, president of InfraNum and although a proposal from the Banque des Territoires was made to co-finance this work, the file fell back into limbo, in particular due to the opposition of certain operators, including Free, to this project according to the Minister of Digital.
Other concerns affect public initiative networks: Frédéric Blanc, project manager for the Ariège RIP having invested 145 million euros, questions long-term financing: “uA telecoms network must be able to maintain it properly. However, the rates set by the regulator have been aligned with those of dense areas, whose costs are three times lower. Without additional revenue, we are heading straight for a brick wall. “Access to civil engineering has been more expensive since the beginning of the year and many have opposed this change, given that it is necessary to plan for “une increase of 70% next year, 30% in two years“. Without forgetting the questions of network resilience against various degradations, which would cost between 7 and 17 billion euros and which operators do not feel ready to assume. “ We do not have the same vision as InfraNum on this subject. We actually think that we need to improve crisis management, how operators intervene on the ground and work with communities. “, says Romain Bonenfant, president of the FFT, which includes Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR. We are not saying that we should not adapt the networks to a certain extent, but we are not talking about a 10 billion plan. »
Source: Le Figaro
This article was reprinted on the Univers FreeBox website
