In France, nearly seven million homes still do not have a fiber optic connection. For some, this represents a significant obstacle. For this reason, the government decided to provide them with a subsidy to improve their connection using other technologies. “The last percent are more difficult because they are more isolated housing. We therefore have to deploy cables which will serve a few homes, we have to do additional work and it takes more time,” explains Romain Bonenfant, general director of the French Telecoms Federation, speaking to TF1.
Until now reserved for individuals and businesses located in rural areas (nearly 28,000 eligible municipalities), state aid will be open “to the entire national territory, and to the seven million households which are not still eligible for fiber”, specified the Minister Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition. The measure “will be effective at the beginning of next year” and the State will mobilize an additional 20 million euros to finance it.
Thus, at the start of 2024, all households not eligible for fiber will be able to benefit from aid of 300 euros, and even 600 euros for the most modest households, to access good broadband (minimum 8 Mbits/second). This is a temporary solution before the generalization of optical fiber at the end of 2025 announced by the government. According to the Minister Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot, this aid is “one more step towards the right to very high speed for all”.
“Thanks to the deployment of fiber and other technologies, very high-speed internet is now eligible for 100% of French people. The objective set ten years ago has therefore been achieved, without slippage in budget or timetable” , welcomes the minister.
A few weeks ago, the State obtained new commitments from Orange for fiber optic coverage of moderately dense areas, with the objective of generalization of fiber by 2025 in mind. The operator has committed to deploying 1.5 million more homes by 2025. The State has also committed to continuing to put pressure on operators to ensure the quality of the networks. “If we do not move quickly enough, we will include this quality imperative in the law,” insisted Jean-Noël Barrot.
Since 2019, the “Digital cohesion of territories” system has allowed households and businesses not covered by wired networks to benefit from financial assistance from the State to access good broadband (i.e. from of 8 Mbits/second).
The financial support covers the cost of equipment, installation or commissioning of a high-performance wireless Internet access solution (satellite, local radio loop and fixed 4G) offered by local and national operators under the The name offers labeled “Digital cohesion of territories”. Its amount can be up to:
In total, nearly 142,000 households have already benefited from assistance.