Fibre-to-the-home (FttH) networks have become the new reference infrastructure in France for providing electronic communication services, and particularly fixed internet access. Aware of how important it is to ensure the quality of these networks’ operation, Arcep began working with operators in 2019 on solving the quality issues that arise. In July 2023, Arcep created a scorecard to assess the impact of the work that the sector was doing to improve the quality of FttH network operation. This 6th edition includes two new indicators designed to take a fuller account of the quality of the user experience.
Apparent confirmation of improved quality, visible on most networks
As with the previous editions, this sixth FttH QoS scorecard measures the progress in failure rates and connection failure rates. The results of this edition confirm the ongoing improvements in the failure rates that ISPs (aka commercial operators) are reporting to infrastructure operators. Arcep has observed a significantly improved situation over the past two years: the number of networks with failure rates above or equal to 1% has decreased sharply, going from nine networks in March 2023 (representing around 420,000 subscribers) to three networks in March 2025 (representing 48,000 subscribers). On some networks, however, notably in the Ile-de-France region, failure rates and connection failure rates remain high.
Efforts still need to be made on connection quality and correcting defective work
The indicators used to measure ISPs’ compliance with industrial processes when installing connections, which were introduced during the previous edition of the QoS scorecard (rate of improper connections by type of defect and the rate of defect correction within 30 days), once again reveal disparities between ISPs.
An analysis conducted on a sample of reports of service calls on an infrastructure operator’s networks reveals a serious defect in between 7% and 9% of the installations performed in Q1 2025. Moreover, ISPs’ ability to fix these defects remains very uneven. These two indicators need to be assessed together. Some defects are more complicated to correct than others, which can affect how long it takes to do so.
This edition includes two new indicators for measuring the quality of the user experience (QoE)
For the first time, Arcep is publishing an indicator on users affected by at least one network outage during the month[1], whose purpose is to take a fuller account of the user experience. The percentage of users affected by at least one network failure during the month is decreasing, dropping from 2.2% nationally in January 2024 to 1.7% in March 2025. This trend, along with the disparities observed between territories, are following a similar trajectory to the rate of failures that ISPs are reporting to infrastructure operators, and confirm the improvements observed in the past several editions of the scorecard.
Arcep is also publishing another QoE indicator for the first time, on the success rate of line activation orders. This indicator reveals that 85% of orders result in a successful line activation – whether for an initial installation or when switching operators – within less than 60 days. This means that 15% of orders result in failure, dropped by either the operator or the customer, or an activation time exceeding 60 days. This rate has remained more or less unchanged at the national level since January 2024. Arcep nevertheless stresses that a successful activation does not necessarily mean that that work was done correctly.
The sector needs to maintain its commitment to improve the quality of FttH network operation
Arcep believes it is still too early to make a definite conclusion about the effectiveness of the work that has been done to date. The Authority is keen to stress that indicators need to be assessed over the long term, and that the entire sector needs to be involved and continue to implement the “Fibre QoS” action plan that Arcep presented to the Government in September 2022 (cf. inset).
Ensuring fibre network quality: one of Arcep’s top priorities
Fibre to the home (FttH) networks have become the new infrastructure of reference in France for delivering electronic communication services, and fixed internet access in particular. Aware of how important it is to ensure the quality of these networks’ operation, Arcep began working with operators in 2019 on solving the quality issues that arise. In September 2022, operators presented Arcep and the Government with an FttH quality of service (QoS) action plan, which Arcep is responsible for monitoring and enforcing.
On its website, Arcep provides regular progress reports on this work that has two main aims:
• first, improving the quality of service calls on optical fibre networks performed by commercial operators’ technicians, combined with increased supervision and fixing any defective work performed on infrastructures;
• second, rehabilitating the networks with the highest rates of failure, which largely includes upgrading shared access points and all of the infrastructure in the shared access points’ service area, analysing network provisioning and realigning operators’ information systems with the reality in the field.
This scorecard of FttH network QoS rounds out Arcep’s toolkit for improving the quality of optical fibre networks in France. The indicators presented are designed to provide an objective status report on FttH networks deployed across the country, and to assess the effects of the work being done by the sector’s stakeholders to improve them. The Authority nevertheless stresses that these indicators do not cover all of the outstanding problems, notably those that commercial operators are responsible for solving.
Associated documents
[1] The indicator on failure rates published up until now pertained to the failures that ISPs report to the infrastructure operator, so does not necessarily cover every failure that users might experience. The new indicator, designed to supplement the previous one, addresses users’ point of view, and tracks the percentage of subscribers who have been affected by at least one failure during the month, covering all types of outage including, for instance, those resulting from defects in the ISP’s hardware (active equipment, etc.).