Arcep and Arcom have published the fifth edition of their common Digital Society Index. This new edition updates and completes key data on ICT use and practices in France.
The Digital Society Index, which is the fruit of the collaboration between Arcep and Arcom, via their joint Digital Division, delivers a quantified snapshot of fixed and mobile network rollouts, internet access, households’ device ownership profiles, internet and audiovisual service use, and digital technology’s environmental footprint.
This fifth edition incorporates new topics, such as screen time and users’ assessment of that time, views on artificial intelligence (AI), and the latest audio and video consumption trends. On the topic of environmental issues, this year the Index examines how long people keep their smartphones as well as televisions’ energy consumption. For the first time, it also delivers a precise assessment of the environmental impact of audiovisual media use.
Ultrafast fixed and mobile access: fibre and 5G rollouts and adoption rates continue to progress
The 2025 Index underscores the ongoing progress in optical fibre deployments and subscription numbers. Over the course of 10 years, FttH subscriptions increased from under 1 million to 24.4 million at the end of 2024. 5G network rollouts are also progressing, as is the number of users. At the end of 2024, there were 24.3 million activated SIM cards on 5G networks, which marks an increase of 10 million SIM cards YoY.
People are more and more connected and better equipped, engaging in a growing array of online and audiovisual practices
Ninety four percent of people in France use the internet. Incoming data traffic to the country’s main internet service providers (ISPs) continues to grow (+ 8% YoY in the second half of 2023). More than half of that traffic is generated by five Big Tech companies: Netflix, Google, Akamai, Meta and Amazon.
In 2024, smartphones remained the device of choice for accessing the Web, and people are using the mobile internet in a growing variety of ways (web browsing, instant messaging, VoIP). Especially noteworthy is the dramatically swift take-up of generative AI in France. After having been introduced in late 2022, one third of the country’s population was using generative AI at the end of 2024, a percentage that rises to 77% amongst 18 to 24-year-olds. But AI is also a source of concern: 62% of the population believe it represents a threat to jobs.
Users spend an average of four hours a day on their devices for personal use, or a quarter of their waking hours. When questioned about how they feel about their screen time, 42% of respondents said they spent too much time, and 19% said they spent far too much time on their devices.
Smartphones overtook televisions for the first time in 2024 as the device of choice for watching videos (owned by 93% of households, or + 4 points YoY, compared to 89% for TVs, or -0.6 YoY). Smart TV ownership rates continue to climb: 54% of internet households own a connected television (+1 point YoY).
Free to air linear TV channels continue to be the most widely watched: 80% of people in France watch them at least once a week, compared to 53% for subscription video on demand (VoD) services.
Average video viewing time continued to decrease in 2024, however (down four minutes a day compared to 2023, to 4 hours and 23 minutes), and close to 50% of French people watch TV programmes on social media or video sharing sites every week. Digital channels are being watched more and more alongside linear TV channels.
A similar complementary relationship has been observed between radio and audio content (podcasts, music, etc.): if live radio continues to be the most popular, listened to by 78% of French people, 49% of them now also listen via audio streaming and video sharing platforms, and 36% of them on social media sites.
Digital technology’s increasingly large environmental footprint
The growing diversification of practices is affecting digital technology’s environmental footprint. Data centre operators’ environmental footprint has increased substantially on all of the indicators examined in 2023 (greenhouse gas emissions, power consumption, water consumption), while electronic communications operators’ carbon footprint is also growing, driven by mobile networks’ rising power consumption.
Looking at just audiovisual media use, emissions stood at 5.6 MtCO2 eq. in 2022, or 0.9% of the total carbon footprint in France. Devices account for the biggest share of this impact. Between now and 2030, the environmental footprint of audiovisual media use could increase by 29% if current trends continue. Measures that combine ecodesign and frugality would help reverse the trend and reduce that footprint by a third.
Associated documents:
Arcep – Arcom joint Digital Division
Created in 2020, the purpose of the Arcep – Arcom joint Digital Division is to deepen technical, economic and environmental analyses of digital markets, and to help the two NRAs carry out their digital market regulation mandates.
The Digital Market Index is one of the Arcep – Arcom Digital Division’s outputs. Its aim is to provide the public with common reference data on digital practices in France. By aggregating data from different established sources, it provides quantified and centralised information on fixed and mobile network deployments, internet access, households’ device ownership profiles, internet and audiovisual service use, and digital technology’s environmental footprint.
The joint Division has an established work programme, and the agreement signed on 2 March 2020 stipulates alternating coordination duties between the two institutions. Anne Yvrande-Billon, Arcep’s Director of Economics, markets and digital affairs, is the joint Digital Division’s coordinator. Bruno Schmutz, Arcom’s Director of Studies, economic affairs and forward-planning is her main counterpart at Arcom.
To find out more:
• Presentation of the Arcep-Arcom joint division on the Arcep website
• Presentation of the Arcep- Arcom joint division on the Arcom website