It’s a rant from theagglomeration of Brivein Correze. She is asking the government to break the contract binding her with Orangeaccused of delays in the deployment of the optical fiber on its territory, in addition to heavy financial sanctions once morest the operator, it announced on Tuesday.
“Orange has been treading water for ten years. We are asking the State to declare the defaulting operator” to “release the contractual obligation” linking Orange to this agglomeration of 80,000 inhabitants within the framework of a “call for expression of investment intention (Amii)” managed by the State, explained its president and mayor of Brive Frédéric Soulier (LR). According to this intercommunality of 48 municipalities, Orange has not, to date, fulfilled its commitment, made in 2010, to install “by 2020” fiber throughout the territorygrouping at the time 14 municipalities.
12% of the population is still not connected
The operator had reiterated its “legally enforceable” promise several times in 2011 and 2018, assures the Corrèze conurbation, extracts from letters from the operator in support. Two years following the end of the deadline, 12% of the population of the territory still does not have “access to optical fiber” because of “the contempt of the operator”, denounces Frédéric Soulier. According to the mayor of Brive, Dorsal, a local mixed union specializing in digital technology, has made it possible to fully equip the 34 remaining, mainly rural municipalities in the area “in less than two years”.
In a letter sent Tuesday followingnoon to the Telecoms Regulatory Authority (Arcep) and to the Prime Minister, the agglomeration demands the breach of the contract to allow the mixed union to “take back control” on the site, added Frederic Soulier.
The agglomeration will also ask the government to apply up to 25 million euros in penalties once morest Orange for “non-compliance with commitments”, which “will be used to pay Dorsal for the finalization of the network”.
In France, the government has announced the objective of a country with full fiber by 2025. According to Arcep data, in September, 32 million premises were eligible for FttH offers (Fiber to the Home, or Optical fiber home) in France.
