Today, Arcep is publishing its scorecard for the fixed broadband and superfast broadband market in France as of the end of March 2024. In Q1 2024, new FttH subscriptions (+ 810,000) outpaced rollouts (680,000 additional premises passed).
ROLLOUTS: As of 31 March 2024, 87% of premises in Metropolitan France were eligible to subscribe to a fibre plan, with around 5.5 million remaining to be passed
- As of 31 March 2024, of the 44.2 million premises in Metropolitan France inventoried by operators, 38.7 million were passed for FttH, and 5.5 million still need to be covered. Optical fibre coverage increased by one point during the quarter, to 87%.
- Over the course of Q1 2024, 680,000 additional premises were passed for FttH – or 19% fewer than in Q1 2023.
- 460,000 additional premises in lower density, public-initiative areas were rendered eligible for FttH access, with 3.1 million premises remaining to be covered.
- 140,000 additional premises in lower density, private-initiative areas were rendered eligible for FttH access, with 1.6 million premises remaining to be covered.
- 400,000 additional premises were passed for FttH in those areas covered by calls for expressions of local interest (called "zones AMEL" in French), with 0.3 million premises remaining to be covered.
- 40,000 additional premises in very high density areas were passed for FttH, with 0.5 million premises remaining to be covered.
- As of 31 March 2024, 40.3 million premises were covered by fixed superfast broadband services, which translates into a 91% rate of coverage.
Monitoring operators’ compliance with their legally binding FttH rollout commitments
Arcep publishes regular progress reports on operators’ compliance with the commitments they have made.
In Q1 2024, in those parts of the country where the Government has issued a call for investment letters of intent ("zones AMII"):
- around 90% of the premises for which Orange has made a commitment had been made eligible for fibre access;
- and around 96% of those in municipalities where SFR has made a commitment had been made eligible for fibre access.
Details regarding the progress of individual “AMEL” project commitments (i.e. legally binding FttH rollout commitments that certain operators have made to local authorities, as part of calls for expressions of local interest) can be found in pages 19 to 23 of the publication.
Monitoring compliance with the obligation of completeness[1]
On 28 May 2024, the Arcep Body responsible for settling disputes, legal proceedings and investigations (aka “RDPI” Body) ordered operators Orange and XpFibre to comply with their obligation to complete FttH deployments by 31 December 2025:
- For Orange, this applies to 7,983 shared access points where it has been ascertained that around 560,000 out of the 2.97 million premises inventoried have yet to be passed for fibre.
- For XpFibre, this applies to 750 shared access points where it has been ascertained that around 53,000 out of the 340,000 premises inventoried have yet to be passed for fibre.
Tracking FttH rollouts with “Ma connexion internet”
The “Déploiements fibre” maps on the “Ma connexion Internet” website (formerly cartefibre.arcep.fr) allow users to track the progress of FttH rollouts in a very detailed fashion.
The information associated with these rollout maps is available as open data.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: As of 31 March 2024, 69% of all fixed internet subscriptions were FttH
- The total number of superfast broadband subscriptions stood at 32.3 million as of 31 March 2024: an additional 55,000 over the course of Q1 2024, which is smaller than the increase observed in Q1 2023 (+ 105,000).
- Among these broadband and superfast broadband subscriptions, 24.9 million were to superfast plans as of 31 March 2024 and represent 77% (+ 7 points YoY) of all internet subscriptions. Quarterly growth for superfast subscriptions remains strong, but continues to diminish each quarter (+ 675,000 in Q1 2024 vs. in + 770,000 in Q1 2023).
- The number of FttH subscriptions stood at 22.2 million at the end of March 2024, representing close to 70% of all broadband and superfast broadband internet subscriptions. Quarterly growth for FttH subscriptions totalled + 810,000 in Q1 2024 compared + 895,000 in Q1 2023.
- The number of “classic” broadband subscriptions continues to shrink, albeit at a more moderate pace in in Q1 2024 (- 620,000 compared to - 665,000 in Q1 2023). Their numbers dropped to 7.5 million as of 31 March 2024.
Associated documents
• Scorecard for fixed broadband and superfast broadband services – figures for Q1 2024
• Maconnexioninternet.arcep.fr, to obtain detailed information on fixed internet access coverage, particularly thanks to FttH rollout maps (which are also still available at https://cartefibre.arcep.fr/)
• Open data: data on fibre and data on all access technologies
• Decisions ordering operators to comply with their rollout obligations: Decision No. 2024-1081-RDPI and Decision No. 2024-1082-RDPI
[1] The regulatory framework governing FttH networks includes an obligation of achieving complete fibre to the home rollouts in every premises in the shared access point’s service area, and within a reasonable timeframe of a maximum two to five years, depending on the location’s characteristics. This obligation applies to the entire country, except for the 106 most densely populated municipalities. Completeness is achieved once all of the premises have been passed for fibre, or a very small percentage remain to be connected “upon request”, with the exception of those premises where it has been duly justified as impossible (e.g. a property’s co-owners have refused).