“The Telecoms Battle: Unpacking the Discord over Fiber Network Workmanship and Connections”

2023-05-05 07:48:00

A basket of crabs. Here is what the small world of telecoms has looked like since the adoption, last Tuesday in the Senate, of a bill aimed at putting an end to poor workmanship, failed connections and other wild disconnections of subscribers on fiber networks. The text has sown discord between all the players in the sector, who are now happily shooting each other in the paws. AT his initiative, Patrick Chaize, the senator (LR) of Ain, himself had a field day on Thursday morning, during a press conference in Parliament. He tackled the operators and the government in quick succession, accused of ignoring the malfunctions on the fiber networks, and of minimizing them. “It is to believe that they did not realize it! »lamented the parliamentarian.

Above all, he accused the executive like Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free of conveying ” a lie “ arguing that his bill would hinder the end of the major fiber deployment project. In the eyes of operators and Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister Delegate in charge of Telecoms, the text threatens the mechanism for connecting customers, called “STOC mode” (1). They argue that with this new law, this task would no longer be the preserve of commercial operators, but would be the choice of infrastructure operators, who deploy fiber throughout the country.

“It’s completely insane”

« Faux »retorts Patrick Chaize, who wonders if the government and the operators “have read his text well”. AT hear him, his law only aims to ” to accompany “ STOC mode, without deleting it. “It is only if the rules of the art are not respected when connecting a customer that the infrastructure operator will regain control”, he defends himself. His argument, however, is forcefully swept away by Bercy and the operators. “The text, as the law stands, calls into question the STOC modewe get annoyed at the ministry. It clearly states that it is the infrastructure operator who decides whether he wants to leave the final connection to the commercial operator. »

The executive also believes that such a change is particularly unwelcome, while the deployment of fiber, initiated in 2013, is supposed to be completed in less than two years. “When you play Monopoly, you don’t change the rules when buying hotels”, we creak at the ministry. Among the operators, the same story. A senior manager of a large operator considers that with his law, Patrick Chaize has opened Pandora’s box.

“It introduces delusional complexity into an already complicated system, he gets carried away. It’s completely insane, explosive. That will lose everyone. We will generate disputes, disputes, add costs to operators… This text, if it passes, calls into question the fiber project. »

Suffocated subcontractors

Patrick Chaize, he remains straight in his boots. His law, he adds, will also provide Arcep with new powers to control the quality of the networks, and thus to sanction commercial operators. This device aims to encourage Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free to better pay their subcontractors in charge of fiber connection, many of whom claim to no longer have the means to work properly.

The senator now has a priority: to do everything so that his text is included as soon as possible on the agenda of the National Assembly, where he has, according to all the actors, every chance of being voted on. Patrick Chaize intends to take advantage of the platform from which he will benefit on May 16, during a symposium of Avicca, the influential association of communities involved in digital technology that he chairs, to praise his text. AT On this occasion, he did not refrain from attacking Jean-Noël Barrot in front of the press and local elected officials, very angry at the poor workmanship on the fiber networks.

“Dear Patrick, congratulations to you once more”

In this electrical context, InfraNum, the largest federation in the telecoms sector, is more than ever under pressure. Its situation is uncomfortable to say the least because its members are not on the same wavelength vis-à-vis the Chaize law. The federation brings together, in fact, both infrastructure operators, commercial operators, but also subcontractors in charge of connections! On April 26, InfraNum issued a joint press release with the French Telecoms Federation (FFT), the operator lobby, to denounce the consequences of the Chaize law. “Concretely, calling into question the current framework would cause a sudden halt in connections”warned the missive, very hostile to the bill.

But Tuesday, just following the unanimous adoption of the text in the Senate, Philippe Le Grand, the president of InfraNum, congratulated the senator. “Dear Patrick, your commitment and what you bring to the development of digital infrastructures in the territories is undeniable.he wrote on Twitter. Congratulations once more to you. » What cause gnashing of teeth among operators. “He must choose his side! », fumes our senior manager of an Internet service provider. Before getting threatening : “If InfraNum publicly supports the bill on our behalf, there will be debate on an exit of the operators from the federation”he warns.

Don’t spoil the party

The degradation of relations between all these actors is not reassuring. Despite certain malfunctions, the fiber deployment project, which has already cost a whopping 35 billion euros, is generally presented as a success, with more than 80% of homes eligible for this technology. This result is primarily the fruit of a good agreement between the government, local authorities and operators. All, within the sector and in the executive, hope for an end to tensions so as not to spoil the party. The next few weeks will be decisive in this regard.

1. The STOC mode (“commercial operator subcontracting”) is the device that applies for the final connection of fiber subscribers. In this logic, the infrastructure operator leaves these interventions to the commercial operators Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free, which call on various subcontractors to carry them out.