The growth included 320,000 homes passed on public initiative networks in less densely populated areas. Including cable and other technologies, 21.6 million premises could receive high-speed broadband of at least 30 Mbps at the end of June, including 15.4 million outside cities.
Arcep noted that Orange and SFR need to speed up their roll-out if they are to meet the agreed coverage targets. At the end of June, Orange had achieved coverage of around 55 percent of the targeted areas and SFR 44 percent. Their first deadline is to reach 92 percent by the end of 2020, while the remaining sites will be covered on demand.
The French FTTH market added another 495,000 subscribers in Q2 for a total of 5.8 million, according to the latest figures from Arcep. That's an increase of 1.7 million new subscribers in the past year.
The fibre growth helped take the country to over 10 million subscribers on more than 30 Mbps. In total, 520,000 very high speed connections (at least 30 Mbps) were added in the quarter and 2.2 million in the past year. This means more than one in three French broadband subscribers have 30 Mbps or higher and a penetration of 47 percent on available very high speed lines.
The total number of broadband subscribers in France increased by 90,000 in the second quarter, slowing from net additions of 165,000 in Q1. The country counted 29.4 million broadband connections at the end of June, up by 690,000 or 2.4 percent year-on-year.
