2023-12-17 13:22:50
Published on Dec 17 2023 at 2:22 p.m.
New boost for digital cohesion. Interviewed in “La Tribune Dimanche”, Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition, promises that aid for access to very high speed will be extended to all households not eligible for fiber, i.e. some 7 million people. households. “This is a strong measure in the service of regional planning. It will be effective at the beginning of next year. This is one more step towards the right to very high speed for all,” says Jean-Noël Barrot. In total, 20 million euros will be devoted to this extension of aid for very high-speed connection, he explains.
Up to 600 euros in aid
Since 2019, the State has subsidized in rural areas the acquisition of necessary equipment (generally, the satellite dish), the installation as well as the activation of a broadband service for households forced to use alternative technology (network mobile, satellite, etc.) to fiber. Around 142,000 households have already benefited from this aid of up to 300 euros, or even 600 euros subject to means conditions.
Launched ten years ago, the France Très Haut Débit plan mobilized 36 billion euros of private and public funds to connect the French to fiber. Today, there are more than 20 million subscribers in France, and more than four out of five French people can access fiber, recalls Jean-Noël Barrot. According to him, with nearly 10,000 sockets per day deployed by telecom operators in the third quarter of 2023, the pace remains strong and deployments have accelerated in rural areas.
Agreement with Orange
But in certain urban areas deployments have sometimes slowed down. Hence a recent agreement with Orange, the historic operator, which will “allow us to reaccelerate” with the objective of the generalization of fiber in 2025, recalls Jean-Noël Barrot. The storms Ciaran and Domingos, which hit the western facade of the country this fall depriving hundreds of thousands of French people of the Internet, also forcing us to rethink the resilience of the network in the face of the consequences of climate change. But what about the scourge of wild disconnections and other malfunctions suffered by users? The government is also very vigilant on this subject. To take stock, a meeting must be held this Wednesday in Bercy with operators and Arcep, the telecoms regulator. “If we do not move quickly enough, we will include this quality imperative in the law,” warns the minister.
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