French regulator Arcep published a statement welcoming the legally-binding commitments made by Orange and SFR on the deployment of private initiative fibre networks in areas of the country covered by the so-called AMII agreement, signed in 2011. The two operators have recently submitted to the government a timetable that will see nearly all of the proposed areas covered by FTTH services by 2022. The regulator will be in charge of enforcing the deadlines of their roll-out plans, using the sanctioning powers acquired as part of France’s Digital law, passed in 2016.
These plans mainly concerns FTTH deployments in mid-size towns, outside very high-density population areas of the country. Orange has committed to cover 11.10 million premises across 2,978 municipalities, representing around 30 percent of the French population and 7 percent of the country’s surface area. SFR will be responsible for 2.55 million premises across 641 municipalities, equal to around 8 percent of the population and 1.5 percent of the territory.
The timetable submitted to the government will see Orange reach 92 percent of its agreed footprint by the end of 2020, with the rest of the premises covered by 2022 or earlier (subject to an ‘on request’ arrangement). Similarly SFR is proposing to reach at least 92 percent of the premises by 2020, while the remaining proportion will be covered ‘on request’ (specifically within six months of the operator receiving a connection request from an end-user).
These proposals put an end to a long-running conflict over the share of premises earmarked for deployment by Orange, which was due to cover a larger footprint than the one initially allocated as part of the AMII arrangement. The new commitments are close to the 80:20 split agreed by the two operators back in 2011. In a press release, SFR indicated that this latest deal adds 2.9 million premises to the original AMII footprint, of which it has committed to cover 1.1 million.
Arcep highlights in its statement that, while positive, the proposals require a significant acceleration in the current pace of deployment for the targets to be met on time. It also demands that Orange and SFR give clear visibility of their roll-out timetable to local authorities, requesting them to comply with specific communication deadlines.
Regarding the commitments made by SFR, Arcep acknowledges a request by the operator to change specific rules governing how fibre cables can be brought into buildings subject to agreement with property owners. As recently reported in the press, SFR has been lobbying members of parliament for such changes as part of the debate underway on a new property law. This is in pursuit of the strategy to upgrade its hybrid fibre-coaxial network.
The regulator expresses serious reservations over SFR’s request, noting that it would undermine the current equilibrium and could lead to economic inefficiencies.
