The four telecom operators are not idle for deploying fibre. Eight cities, including Brest and Caen are already 100% fiber. Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues Telecom aim for 20 million in 2022. But the deployment takes time in rural areas.
While the telecom regulator has put pressure in January, the hawkish comments multiply among telecom operators. Orange, Free, Bouygues Telecom and SFR promise that they will be able from 2022 to connect 20 million homes to high speed via optical fibre. It would take 30 million to cover the whole of France.
100 megabits per second
Made of fibre glass or plastic, the optical fibre is able to carry data at rates exceeding 100 megabits per second, or 12.5 million characters per second.
The deployment of optical fibre is the subject of very large investments.
Orange already owns 75% of the market
SFR invests 2 billion per year in networks and provides 11 million high-speed taken at the end of the year. Free will invest 1.4 billion this year and $ 1.5 billion next year in networks to have 9 million taken in late 2018. Bouygues Telecom will inject 3.3 billion over three years for 12 million connectable taken end of 2019.
Despite these efforts, Orange keeps a considerable advance since the incumbent phone plans to invest 3 billion in three years only in the optical fiber. To the point that competitors accuse of wanting to reconstitute a monopoly.
He already holds three quarters of the market with 1.5 million customers in 2.2 million subscribers to the fibre in France. 6.9 million people are in the areas connected to the optical fiber.
In medium-sized cities, Orange leases its taken
Orange is anyway in a central position in this market because if the four operators install their own networks in major cities, Free, Bouygues Telecom and SFR often go through Orange in smaller towns for rent decision of its network.
So that Orange and SFR had shared medium-sized cities, the company Patrick Drahi has installed 10% of the catch. In rural areas (40% of the territory), operators spend most often by infrastructure operators supported by public funds. But at present, only 800,000 of the 13 million planned taken were deployed in the country.
Eight cities 100% fiber
In large cities, it is quite different as Orange held its aims to connect 100% of households in eight cities, including Brest and Caen (1). In Paris, 1.357 million households (90% of the population) are in a position to subscribe via Orange or about to be. 1.568 million may do so via SFR.
(1) Other cities: Bayonne, Lyon, a European metropolis of Lille, Metz, Montpellier, Nice.
