France Telecom-Orange and SFR have signed a fibre rollout plan with central government and the Ile-de-France region setting the level of private investment in the network. The agreement targets 100 percent residential and business FttH access by 2020 for the Ile-de-France region, which comprises the city of Paris and its surrounding suburbs.
While the operators have already started rolling out FTTH in Paris, the latest agreement focuses on ensuring coverage for less dense areas in the region. The carriers’ network investments in very densely populated areas are intended to bring FttH to 4.7 million homes, or 89 percent of households in the region. France Telecom and SFR will respectively roll out fibre in 198 and 122 towns not classified as being very densely populated.
In the remaining 862 municipalities where the operators will not make direct investment, publicly-owned FTTH networks will be paid for by the towns, counties, region and central government through the region’s EUR 150 million Fibre Plan.
The carriers’ specific investment commitments were not disclosed. The regional agreement opens the way for the carriers to accelerate the signing of fibre projects with individual counties. The first such agreement was already signed 28 March between Orange and Val d’Oise county.