Arcep is publishing the 2022 edition of its Report on the State of the Internet in France, submitted to Parliament and presented at a press conference today. In this report, Arcep delivers an account of its monitoring of fixed and mobile Internet networks’ key components in 2021: Internet quality of service, data interconnection, the transition to IPv6, net neutrality, the role of platforms and the digital environmental footprint. The purpose of this monitoring exercise: to ensure, thanks to regulation, that the Internet continues to develop as a “common good,” where users are the final arbiters.
Internet quality of service: “Access ID Card” API being implemented in ISPs’ boxes
To improve the information made available to users, Arcep has been working since 2018 with the different players involved in testing QoS: crowdsourcing tools, operators, consumer protection associations, academics. This work led to:
- the publication of a Code of Conduct to encourage players involved in testing QoS to guarantee a minimum level of transparency and robustness, both for their test protocols and in the presentation of their findings. A new version of the Code of Conduct was published in 2020[1];
- the creation of an “Access ID Card” API for ISPs’ boxes to obtain a more detailed characterisation of the testing environment.
Arcep regularly updates the list of tools that have declared themselves compliant with the Code of Conduct[2]. This Code of Conduct will evolve over time to factor in the implementation of the “Access ID Card” API in boxes. Accessible to the tools that have declared themselves compliant with Arcep’s Code of Conduct, this API will be deployed and enabled in virtually all of the boxes covered by the Arcep Decision[3] in July 2022.
Data interconnection: spotlight on video streaming
Coinciding with the report’s publication is the release of the latest update of Arcep’s Barometer of Interconnection in France, with data as of 31 December 2021. This year, the report on the State of the Internet in France contains a close-up look at video streaming. These streams account for more than half of all Internet traffic around the globe[4]. And France is no exception, with more than half of online traffic coming from firms that provide bandwidth-hungry video content: Netflix, Google (with YouTube), Akamai, Facebook and Amazon (with Prime).
Transition to IPv6: the task force continues to work on accelerating the pace of the migration
In its report, Arcep also mentions its second handbook: “A business’s guide to the IPv6 transition” – aimed chiefly at businesses’ IT experts, to help them make the transition to IPv6. Join the task force created by Arcep and Internet Society France, and open to all of the ecosystem’s stakeholders, to contribute to ongoing efforts to accelerate the migration to the new protocol.
Arcep also provides key figures from the Barometer of the Transition to IPv6 published in late 2021: in early June 2022, France overstepped the symbolic threshold of 50% of Internet access lines being IPv6 enabled[5]. Despite this significant progress, which puts France in 4th position in Europe in terms of IPv6 adoption rate, the transition remains far from complete.
Open Internet: Arcep participating in European work on implementing the Open Internet Regulation
In 2021, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) adopted changes to its guidelines for implementing the Open Internet Regulation, following recent rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding zero-rating practices[6]. This new version is available online on the BEREC website.
Regulating gatekeeper platforms: Arcep and BEREC submit proposals for reinforcing the Digital Markets Act
After the European Commission published the proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA) in December 2020, Arcep became an active contributor to national, European and international discussions on reinforcing this proposed regulation, and ensuring its effective implementation. Within BEREC, Arcep contributed to drafting several documents (reports, opinions, memos), hosted and led two workshops with all of the stakeholders (European Commission and Parliament, gatekeeper platforms, consumer associations and representatives of civil society). Several of the proposals made by Arcep and BEREC are contained in the final version of the DMA. In 2022, Arcep will pursue its work on these issues, notably by continuing to contribute actively to BEREC reports on the Internet ecosystem, and on the interoperability of online messaging services.
Digital environmental footprint: Arcep continues its work on measuring the sector’s impact on the environment
Arcep has been deeply committed to the issue of the digital environmental footprint since 2019. In 2021, the French Government roadmap on “Digital and the Environment,” along with new laws that were adopted over the course of the year, helped affirm Arcep’s role and responsibilities in this area. In addition to electronic communications operators and networks, Arcep is looking at the entire digital ecosystem: in concert with ADEME, it published the findings of an initial report dedicated to measuring the digital sector’s environmental footprint in France. Lastly, thanks to data collection powers that have been newly expanded to include data centre operators, device manufacturers and content and application providers, Arcep can steadily build and enhance its annual “Achieving digital sustainability” survey, whose inaugural edition was published in April 2022.
Associated documents:
• Report on the State of the Internet in France – 2022 edition
Notes:
[1] The 2020 version of the Code of Conduct: https://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gspublication/code-de-conduite-QoS-Internet-2020_sept2020.pdf
[2] https://www.arcep.fr/la-regulation/grands-dossiers-Internet-et-numerique/la-mesure-de-la-qualite-de-service-dInternet.html#c29510
[3] Arcep Decision No. 2019-1410 of 10 October 2019
[4] Sandvine, the global Internet phenomena report, January 2022: https://www.sandvine.com/hubfs/Sandvine_Redesign_2019/Downloads/2022/Phenomena%20Reports/GIPR%202022/Sandvine%20GIPR%20January%202022.pdf
[5] According to Arcep estimates based on the four main sources of data available (Akamai, Apnic, Facebook and Google): https://www.arcep.fr/actualites/le-fil-dinfos/detail/n/acces-a-Internet-ipv6-070622.html
[6] Zero rating refers to a practice whereby an ISP does not deduct the data traffic generated by one or several particular applications from a customer’s data allowance.