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FTTH in France: building the ecosystem

FTTH Council Conference

London

21st February 2013

Philippe Distler

Board Member

FTTH milestones

Late 2006

• Initial discussions on FTTH deployment

Summer 2008

• Access to FTs ducts is regulated

• LME bill: unique terminating fibre segment + access obligations

Late 2010 and 2011

• Decisions fixing the technical and economic rules for deploying FTTH local loop

Summer 2011

• Launch of the national broadband plan (EUR2bn) call for projects

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ARCEP’s regulation consists of two complementary tools

Access to France Telecom’s civil

engineering

(asymmetric regulation)

Access and co-

investment obligation

in the last “drop”

(symmetric regulation)

The objective is to provide an incentive to invest in fibre deployments

while safeguarding and improving competition.

duct regulation

shared

network

shared

access point

ARCEP’s regulation consists of two complementary tools

Access to France Telecom’s civil

engineering

(asymmetric regulation)

access to poles and ducts since Jun-11

market analysis decision

cost-oriented prices, economic terms set in

Nov-10 (decision No. 2010-1211) with a

significant drop in prices

creates a level playing field for access to

ducts and poles

duct regulation

shared

network

shared

access point

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ARCEP’s regulation consists of two complementary tools

Access and co-

investment obligation

in the last “drop”

(symmetric regulation)

duct regulation

shared

network

shared

access point

decisions No.2009-1106 for very-high density areas, and No. 2010-1312 elsewhere

facilitate rollouts on private property and reduce the risk of a local monopoly through

sharing the last drop

lower deployment costs through infrastructure sharing and co-investment schemes

ensure consistent coverage in less dense areas

the location of the sharing point is a compromise between infrastructure-based competition,

cost sharing and technological neutrality (PON and P2P)

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Key elements of the ecosystem

great for the supply side…but key is to trigger the demand side!

Information sharing

Technical: network maps

Strategic: public local authorities’ digital

strategic plan

Cost reduction

Reusing existing infrastructure

Cost sharing (co-investment)

Deployment coordination: public/private

Ensuring effective access

In-building wiring

Architecture of the local loop (eg. size of

the shared access point)

Ladder of investment (co-investment ex

ante, ex post, renting individual access

fibre)

Providing visibility

Public/private commitments in the national broadband

plan

Stability of the regulation

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The rollout of FttH is in progress

8170 km of ducts leased to

France Telecom by alternative

operators (Q3 2012)

2 038 000 FttH homes passed

(+51% y.o.y.), of which 328 000

by public networks

In 976 000 households, another

operator than the one who

equipped the building has a

passive access to the network

(+141% y.o.y.)

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… but the penetration rate is still limited at this stage

1,5 M subscribers to ultrafast broadband including 270 000 on FttH and 570 000 on

renovated cable (FttLA infrastructure and DOCSIS 3.0)

8,8 M homes passed for ultrafast broadband (cable + FttH), excluding homes covered twice

Penetration rate of 17% (13,4% for FttH)

Thank you for your attention

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