Optical fiber in France: state of deployment and disparities between departments

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The fiber optic guide in France

Welcome to Fiber.Guide, the site to find as much information as possible on the deployment of fiber optic across France.

What is optical fiber ?

It is a very fine glass or plastic thread that leads to light and is used for data transmission by light.

This technology provides access to very high speed and gradually replaces the networks used to distribute the phone (DSL, copper network) or even cable television (FTTB, Coaxial cable).

In addition, Orange plans to close this copper network by 2030, the fiber network being intended to replace it.

Understand the deployment of optical fiber

To bring the fiber in your accommodation, the operators will gradually bring the fiber closer to your home: firstly in the NRO, the equivalent of a telephone central which serves your neighborhood or your town, then in your street and finally in your home (building , House, …).

To understand the different stages of the deployment of optical fiber, consult our complete guide:

Follow the deployment of optical fiber

To find out if your home is eligible for optical fiber and know the FTTH deployment projects in your region, go to our eligibility part:

Compare fiber offers

All the main operators offer their fiber optic offers, even if they are sometimes more expensive than the DSL versions.

To choose your offer, you will first have to check your eligibility, the services included in the subscription according to your needs and obviously the price. Fiber.Guide offers you a comparative table of the different fiber offers for operators:

Optical fiber in France: state of deployment and disparities between departments

The High and very High Speed ​​Observatory of ARCEP reports on the number of Internet subscriptions and the progression of the deployment of optical fiber in France.

Héloïse Famié-Galtier / published on March 17, 2022 at 8:15 am

The high and very high speed key figures in France

The arcep (regulatory authority for electronic communications) reveals the evolution of the deployment of high and very high speed in France, during the past year. The results take into account the observations carried out by the authority in the 4th quarter of 2021.

5 key figures to remember:

• 31.5 million high and very high speed subscriptions at the end of 2021, with an increase of 230,000 access in one quarter and + 3.7 % in one year,
• 5.6 million new fiber optic lines (FTTH) in 2021 (compared to 5.8 million in 2020),
• 18.4 million very high speed subscriptions on fixed networks. These access represents 58 % of all Internet subscriptions,
• 14.5 million subscriptions in end -to -end fiber, growing of 1.1 million additional access to the last quarter 2021. They constitute 46 % of Internet subscriptions,
• 1.4 million additional premises were made connected to fiber optics during the latter quarter, 15 % more than in the 3rd quarter of 2021, but 25 % less than in 2020 at the same period,
• 29.7 million premises eligible for FTTH offers in 2021, 23 % more than in 2020.

Important disparities in the deployment of fiber optics

Arcep stresses that “The rhythm observed at the national level still does not translate into very dense areas where the insufficient rhythm observed in the latter quarters continues”. Indeed, the institution reports on the disparity of fiber optical deployments with many departments which display FTTH coverage much lower than the national average coverage (88 %). This is particularly the case for departments such as Meurthe-et-Moselle (60 %), the North (64 %), the Bouches-du-Rhône (71 %), the Bas-Rhin (74 %), the Seine- Maritime (74 %) the Seine and Marne (82 %) or the Loire (84 %).

On the side of the municipalities, the differences are also important. While Paris (96 %), Lyon (95 %), Nice and Bordeaux (90 %) display the best FTTH coverage rates, Lille arrives well below average with 65 %.

How to follow the advancement in the deployment of fiber optics ?

ARCEP offers users to follow the deployments of fiber optics via its cartographic tool, “my internet connection”, via the “Fiber deployments” tab. It allows in particular to visualize the buildings and to follow precisely the progress of FTTH deployments. Since November 2021, it is also possible to learn about the time to connect optical fiber to the municipality’s scale.

Fiber coverage in France: network state and deployment fiber card in 2023

The number of optical fiber subscribers has exceeded that of ADSL subscribers. Fiber coverage on the territory continues to improve, covering the majority of cities in France and more and more rural areas. Discover the latest figures for the fiber network coverage as well as the methods to find out if your accommodation is covered by fiber.

• The essential
• Nearly 35 million households are Optical fiber in 2023.
• THE Very dense areas, which bring together nearly 106 agglomerations, are 91% covered.
• In less dense areas, the fiber coverage is approximately 85% (28.9 million households)
• You can free Test your fiber optic eligibility by contacting us by phone.
• Many Fiber cover cards allow you to know the connection rate of your municipality.

The arcep fiber coverage card

ARCEP has a interactive card which makes it possible to follow the evolution in real time of the deployment of fiber in metropolitan territory and in overseas France. It offers the possibility of knowing the coverage of each municipality. This card can be viewed below:

How to use it ?

• Top left, a window allows Enter your address, a municipality or a postal code. Alternately, you can Browse the fiber cover card with your mouse.
• Always on the left, buttons allow zoom on the card or refocus it. In the bottom corner, different types of display are available: Plan, satellite or relief.
• THE color code indicates the coverage rate of each municipality: dark for covers above 50 or 80%, clear for covers between 0 and 50%, white for a absence of coverage.
• By clicking on each municipal area, a Small insert appears And specifies the number of connectable premises, the coverage rate, the INSEE code and the infrastructure operator present in the municipality.

You can also discover your connection rate via our Tool below, which takes up the data from ARCEP. Indicate the name of your municipality or your postal code, select among the indicated results. Then click on “Launch the test“To discover the fiber cover of your city:

Test your municipality’s fiber eligibility !

Name of your city or postal code *

• 01000-Bourg-en-Bresse
• 01100 – APREMONT
• 01100 – Arbent
• 01100 – Bellignat
• 01110 – ARANC

Launch the loading test

Coverage rate of the main cities

City	Number of premises	Fiber cover
Paris	1730000	97%
Marseille	528000	81%
Lyon	381000	96%
Toulouse	355000	89%
Nice	274000	92%
Nantes	227000	88%
Montpellier	210000	84%
Bordeaux	205000	90%
Strasbourg	188000	88%
Lille	167000	85%

Sources: ARCEP data (1st quarter 2023)

Fiber coverage in France: figures for the 1st quarter 2023

The fiber unfolds from gradual way on the territory for several years. Its development is supported by the French government and by many local authorities for the less dense areas.

The year 2021 marked a major change with regard to Internet subscriptions in France: this is indeed the first year when the number of households connected in very high speed (connections greater than 30 Mbit/s) exceeds that of broadband (typically, ADSL).

This trend should continue to reverse in the years that follow since the fiber coverage of the territory has improved each quarter, as reported by theArcep, The regulatory authority for France’s networks and communications. THE Very high speed France plan The aim of covering the entire territory by 2023.

Thus, on March 31 2023, We count 34.6 million Frozen fiber -eligible households (very high speed).

Two fiber technologies are present in France: the fiber optics from start to finish, or Ftth, whose connection to the subscriber is fully made of fiber. The other technique, the Fttla, uses a coaxial cable for the installation of fiber in housing.

You can determine your fiber eligibility FTTH or FTTLA by phone and discover all the fiber offers available in your town.

FTTH fiber is the one that interests consumers and operators the most, since it offers best flows and the biggest network in the territory. We count 15.47 million FTTH subscribers against only 1.03 In FTTLA: many lines with coaxial ending are transformed into FTTH lines over the months.

Fiber coverage: the latest arcep figures (in millions)

Data	2021 T1	2021 T2	2021 T3	2021 T4	2022 T1	2022 T2	2022 T3	2022 T4	2023 T1
Very high speed subscriptions	15.74	16.65	17.52	18.39	19.29	19.97	20.67	21.50	22.27
FTTH fiber subscriptions	11.44	12.41	13.38	14.47	15.48	16.31	17.16	18.12	19.02
FTTLA subscriptions	0.96	0.91	0.87	1.12	1.04	0.97	0.93	0.86	0.81
VDSL2, radio, 4G, satellite subscriptions	3.34	3.33	3.26	2.81	2.76	2.69	2.58	2.51	2.44
High speed subscriptions	15.10	14.38	13.74	13.06	12.35	11.78	11.21	10.44	9.77
DSL subscriptions	14.48	13.74	13.08	12.38	11.69	11.12	10.55	9.80	9.13
Subscriptions to other technologies	0.62	0.64	0.66	0.68	0.66	0.66	0.66	0.64	0.65
Very high speed homes	29.95	31.00	32.04	33.18	34.02	35.18	35.79	36.88	37.46
FTTH fiber -eligible households	25.57	27.02	28.27	29.70	30.80	32.18	33.20	34.28	35.28
Very high speed subscription rate	53%	54%	55%	55%	57%	57%	58%	58%	59%
FTTH fiber subscription rate	45%	46%	47%	49%	50%	51%	52%	53%	54%

Updated on 08/01/2023.

Through these figures, there are certain points which testify to the improvement of fiber optic coverage:

• The number of broadband subscriptions fell from Several hundred thousand households Each quarter, while the FTTH fiber wins more than a million subscriptions over the same period.
• DSL (essentially ADSL) constitutes nearly 96% of broadband subscriptions, While the FTTH fiber counts for 73% of very high speed connected accommodation. These are the two most widespread Internet access technologies in France, well in front of the FTTLA, the Internet by satellite, the Internet radio or 4G fixed.
• L’Impact of the Pandemic COVID On the evolution of the fiber coverage was quite moderate: only the first two quarters of 2020 saw a slight stagnation of the fiber optic connections.

Eligibility test: Know your optical fiber coverage

Alternatively to fiber cover cards, you can exactly determine the Connection possibilities from your fiber accommodation by performing an eligibility test. This test is free And only takes a few minutes: everything you need to indicate is your address or your fixed phone number.

If your accommodation is eligible, You can then discover all the fiber offers of operators present in your sector. Indeed, all operators do not cover the same areas, you may be eligible for the fiber of one supplier but not another.

Unlike the eligibility test, a flow test can Measure the real flow that your connection can reach in usual conditions of use. It may be interesting to do this test after you have subscribed to the fiber, in order to be sure that the speeds affected are in conformity to those of fiber. Have in mind that the flows announced by the operators are theoretical : It is likely that your fiber speed is slightly lower than these flows.

Detail of the fiber optic coverage by zone

French territory is divided into two types of areas according to their population: the Very dense areas (ZTD) and less dense areas (ZMD). This nomenclature was established by ARCEP at the start of fiber development. Deployment differences exist between these areas.

Fiber cover in very dense areas (ZTD)

Very dense areas represent a set of urban cities and areas of France, very exactly 106. There are all the major cities in the country and many medium -sized agglomerations.

These areas are economically attractive For operators: facilities to develop structures of the FTTH network and large population density. ZTDs are about 7.8 million households, just under 18% of French households. These areas benefit from the best fiber coverage from the country.

Fiber coverage in very dense areas

Data (in million)	2021 T2	2021 T3	2021 T4	2022 T1	2022 T2	2022 T3	2022 T4	2023 T1
Very high speed covered premises	7.03	7.15	7.17	7.29	7.32	7.34	7.45	7.46
FTTH fiber covered premises	6.51	6.62	6.72	6.83	6.93	6.95	7.07	7.07
Percentage of FTTH fiber covered premises	87%	87%	88%	89%	90%	90%	91%	91%

ARCEP data (2023).

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Fiber cover in less dense areas (ZMD)

Everything that is not in very dense areas is one of the ZMD. These areas are less populated and fiber deployment costs are higher. The operators more often mutualize structures of the FTTH network so that other operators can use it and implant their fiber lines.

There are two categories of less dense areas:

1. Privatized areas, called Amii (Call for demonstration of investment intention) or sometimes Amel (Call for demonstration of local commitments)). In these areas, infrastructure operators deploy the fiber network themselves.
2. Public areas, called Rip (Public initiative)). These remote areas being unattractive from an economic point of view, local authorities launch tenders To encourage suppliers to develop fiber there, the latter being helped by Infrastructure operators such as anxione, covance or altitude infrastructure.

AMII and Amel zones count 14.5 million premises covered by fiber in early 2022, almost half of the fiber sockets present in the territory. Currently, 9.5 million households are connected to RIP, including 3.8 in rural municipalities and 1.3 in mountain municipalities.

Fiber coverage in less dense areas

Data (in million)	2021 T2	2021 T3	2021 T4	2022 T1	2022 T2	2022 T3	2022 T4	2023 T1
Premises covered in FTTH in Amii / Amel zones	13.5	13.9	14.2	14.5	14.8	15.0	15.2	15.6
Total premises covered in FTTH in AMII / Amel zones	81%	84%	85%	87%	87%	88%	87%	89%
Premises covered in FTTH in RIP zones	7.0	7.7	8.7	9.5	10.0	10.8	11.5	12.0
Total premises covered in FTTH in RIP zones	42%	45%	51%	54%	59%	63%	68%	71%

ARCEP data (2023).

Less dense areas are the largest challenge for network development: RIP fiber coverage was only 51% at the end of 2021. The RIPs, however, record the better progression in terms of deployment, since 71% Home in RIP zones are now covered by fiber optics, more than 3 million new fiber lines deployed in less than 18 months.

What is the fiber coverage of each operator ?

Orange fiber blanket

The historic operator has a Very extensive fiber cover within the territory. More than 33.5 million households are already eligible for the operator’s FTTH fiber, for more than 7 million subscribers. An orange fiber coverage card is available and its use is similar to that of ARCEP: just indicate its contact details to find out its eligibility for orange fiber.

More recently, the supplier focused on its fiber coverage in less dense areas (Amii and RIP).
In privatized regions, more than 13 million premises are eligible for Orange fiber offers, which places the operator in first position.

FREE FIBER COVER

The operator’s network covers near 33 million households that can be connected in FTTH fiber, and has nearly 5 million subscribers FREE fiber offers. As with other operators, its deployment has accelerated in recent years in the RIP. To find out in detail the operator’s FTTH deployment, a free fiber card can be viewed at any time.

Agreements with some Infrastructure operators, Like Covage, were concluded with Iliad, the group holding free. When a deployment decision in a RIP is finalized, this makes it possible to create 20,000 to almost a million New eligible households.

The SFR fiber cover

SFR is the only major operator in France to have both a FTTH fiber network and a FTTLA network (Fiber with coaxial ending). However, the supplier focuses on the FTTH to continue to extend its fiber optic coverage. More and more Fttla lines are migrated FTTH fiber verse.

More than 33 million dwellings are eligible for FTTH SFR fiber. The operator has undertaken to invest in the Amii and RIP areas in recent years. 2.98 million households can be connected in the RIP zones. The operator has nearly 4.5 million very high speed subscribers.

Bouygues fiber blanket

The operator covers almost 30 million lines for approximately 3 million subscribers to his offers Bbox fiber.

You are looking to take out a fiber offer ? Discover the available offers and let yourself be guided in order to take advantage of the partner offer most suited to your needs. (Free selectra service)