The Group has already invested nearly €3 million annually in its network and infrastructure to
provide its retail and business customers with the best possible quality of service. With this new program, the Group does not foresee any substantial changes to its investment in France, where a large proportion is, and will continue to be, allocated to modernizing and maintaining its network and service infrastructure.
This ambitious program will benefit from the lessons learned during the Group's pre-deployment phase, which was carried out in collaboration with other operators and overseen by ARCEP since 2007. As of
September 30, 2009, Orange had 33,000 customers subscribed to its fiber optic services in France.
In this way, Orange is fulfilling the French authorities' ambition to deploy a very high-speed broadband network throughout the country, with the aim of facilitating the development of digital communication tools and maintaining a competitive edge.
In densely populated areas, the rollout will resume in the nine metropolitan areas¹ already covered, as well as in the Paris region. Starting in 2010, this rollout will also extend to the following cities: Cannes, Montpellier,Orléans, Rennes, Strasbourg, and Toulon.
In line with ARCEP's decision, Orange will submit its bid for the exchange of cables installed in buildings in February, and will therefore be able to take part in these investments in the same way as other market players.
Orange also plans to invest in densely populated areas (zone 2). A trial phase will take place in Chatou (Yvelines) and Oullins (Rhône) before a wider rollout in six cities starting in 2010: Brest, Dijon, Le Havre, Pau, Reims, and Valenciennes.
Orange is also open to different forms of co-investment with other operators in Zone 2. In fact, an agreement has been signed with SFR to conduct operational trials in Palaiseau and Bondy, with a view to drawing up a co-investment agreement. Discussions are also underway to extend this agreement to a third city.This agreement could be opened to other operators.
Orange aims to be present in all regions of mainland France, in around 45 agglomerations, by 2012, then in all departments of mainland France and in three overseas departments by 2015.
For less dense areas (zone 3), Orange is also open to partnerships with local authorities to accelerate fiber deployment, if the regulatory context makes this possible, through an intermediary phase based on increasing speeds on the existing network (FTTC^2).
1 Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Nantes, Nice, and Toulouse.
2 Fiber to the curb