ARCEP concludes its work on the terms governing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) rollouts in small buildings in very high-density areas.

Paris, 5 January 2012

On 14 June of last year, ARCEP published a recommendation (1) on the modalities of network rollouts and sharing schemes, particularly for small buildings in very high-density areas in France. To take the disparities that exist in these areas into consideration, the Authority recommended pinpointing low-density pockets where it would be advisable to have concentration points located further up the network. This would make it possible to ensure reasonable technical and economic terms of access, as well as consistent and complete deployments in these areas. The geographical delimitation recommended by the Authority is based on the INSEE (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies) "IRIS" (2) system for dividing the country into units of equal size.

To provide all of the players with the clarity they need for their future investments, ARCEP created a technical advisory committee made up of operators deploying networks in very high-density areas, and the relevant local authorities. This committee met on several occasions and completed its work in late December 2011.

This work resulted in all of the 4,921 IRIS units in the 148 municipalities that make up the very high-density areas of France being divided into two groups:

- those that correspond to low-density pockets, as defined by the ARCEP recommendation of 14th June 2011, where FTTH rollouts can be performed using a configuration similar to the one chosen for more sparsely populated areas, namely a concentration point that serves at least 300 residential or business premises;

- the other IRIS units, where rollouts are performed using a configuration whereby concentration points are located close to the premises, and possibly at the foot of the building. The network rollouts performed thus far in these areas have proven that a smaller degree of network sharing is economically sustainable.

This mapping process will allow operators, working in tandem with local authorities, to employ the rollout solutions that are best suited to the varying degrees of population density within these very high-density areas.

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(1) http://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gspublication/20110614-Recommandation-petits-immeubles-ZTD-post-consultation.pdf (pdf - 105KB)
(2) IRIS (Ilots regroupés pour des indicateurs statistiques) = aggregated units for statistical information