French operators want to invest in 4G, must invest in fibre

French operators caught up in a mobile services war could be thought likely to focus on all-IP based LTE at the detriment of their fibre rollouts, reports Les Echos, citing Stephane Dubreuil from SIA Conseil. But they will need to focus on fibre although there has been little market demand to migrate from ADSL to fibre so far. Operators are legally required to pass 60 percent of homes with fibre by 2020. This will cost them up to a third of the EUR 21 billion estimated investment to fibre the whole country, according to telecom regulator Arcep. Operators are focused on mobile data and the arrival of LTE. In a current TV ad campaign, SFR is stressing that its investments in 4G will allow customers 'tomorrow' to be able to exchange mobile data incredible speeds, showing a live video feed of a sonogram to an soon-to-be father in a moving taxi.

The new MNO that sparked the price war in France, Free Mobile, roams on the Orange network for 2G/3G. It will roam for 4G on SFR, which won the most LTE spectrum. This removes LTE as a differentiating factor for the three incumbent MNOs. But LTE offers major financial benefits, as it can reduce the cost of sending 1 GB of data tenfold compared to 3G. The increased investment in LTE has come with price and traffic hikes in countries where LTE has started to be deployed, namely Denmark, the US and Netherlands, Gabrielle Capron of Groupama Asset Management told Les Echos. As previously reported, Orange France has said it plans to launch LTE services commercially in 2013. Bouygues Telecom has signed LTE deals with Ericsson and Huawei, which includes upgrading 2G/3G equipment to RBS 6000, supply of LTE equipment and coverage of three French regions, including Paris.