2023-05-12 09:21:00
While the deployment of fiber continues at full speed in France, Orange has, according to our information, decided to revise upwards the remuneration of its subcontractors. Decided on in April, this increase, confirmed at the Tribune by the operator, amounts to 4%. It concerns all its tier 1 subcontractors, in other words, those who deal directly with Orange to connect its subscribers. These tier 1 subcontractors must pass on this revaluation to their own tier 2 subcontractors.
This is not the first time that Orange has made a gesture with this sector. The incumbent operator had agreed to an increase of 2.2% in July 2022, before increasing it to 3.5% in December. This new 4% boost comes to take over. But with a particularity. Still according to our information, this revaluation was not decided for a few months: it was directly integrated into Orange’s long-term contracts with the sector, via endorsements.
“The situation remains distressing”
These contracts, called “RC Centric”, entered into force last year. They have been particularly criticized by Orange’s subcontractors, who are called Sogetrel, Circet, Constructel, Ineo, Sade, Solutions 30, Spie or Vinci and have thousands of employees. They had notably castigated – behind the scenes and anonymously so as not to offend their main client – a drop in the price of fiber connections, deemed to be very insufficient.
Does this 4% increase, secured over time, satisfy them? Not really. Or not at all. It is considered to be much lower than inflation, which is still galloping, and which has eroded their margins copiously. “The situation remains distressing”, says a manager of a large subcontractor. Like the whole industry, he would have preferred Orange to set up a price indexation system on inflation.
“Inflation is not going to stop”
But this solution, the incumbent does not want to hear regarding. A manager of a subcontractor, however, says that it should not be surprising if the quality of the fiber connections deteriorates. To the great displeasure of communities, which are campaigning for an anti-defects law which today is sowing discord in telecoms.
Asked by the TribunePhilippe Le Grand, president of InfraNum, the federation of fiber manufacturers, still welcomes Orange’s gesture. ” It’s already that “, he says. According to him, negotiations will continue with the incumbent operator “to rise to 4.5%”. “Inflation is not going to stop”he justifies.
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