French fixed broadband operators recorded another strong quarter for fibre take-up, achieving a new record net increase in FTTP connections in the three months to December, according to Arcep's latest report. Net additions progressed to 1.11 million (+945,000 in Q3), bringing the overall FTTP subscription base to 10.36 million at end-2020 across mainland France and the overseas territories. The country’s FTTP take-up rate rose by 1 percentage point since September to reach 43 percent, meaning that 43 percent of people able to access FTTP services have opted to do so.
The overall fixed broadband market reached 30.57 million connections, representing a quarterly net increase of 282,000 (+217,000 in Q3). Out of this total, 48 percent delivered download speeds of at least 30 Mbps across several access methods (FTTP, cable, VDSL and fixed LTE). While shrinking steadily, ADSL continued to make up the largest fixed broadband segment with 15.30 million lines, down 14 percent year-on-year.
Fibre operators accelerated their roll-out pace for a third consecutive quarter, hitting a new record of 1.88 million premises passed since September (+1.45 million in Q3). As a result, the country closed 2020 with an overall FTTP footprint of 24.16 million premises, up 31 percent year-on-year.
As in previous quarters, deployment activities primarily focused on areas covered by the AMII agreement (+1.1 million premises), mainly concerning mid-size towns where Orange and SFR are investing without the help of public subsidies. There was also ongoing progress in the roll-out of public initiative fibre networks, which brought FTTP services to a new quarterly record of over 650,000 rural premises.
