1st February 2010: Deployment of fibre optics outside of heavily populated areas
At the beginning of March, the Autorité de la concurrence will issue an opinion on the national "very high speed" programme
The Autorité de la concurrence has just received a referral from Christine Lagarde, Minister for the economy, industry and employment, and from Christian Estrosi, Minister for industry, requesting an opinion on the national "very high speed" programme that the State wishes to implement.
This programme is intended to facilitate the deployment of very high speed networks throughout the territory, notably using fibre optics. It is firstly intended to stimulate investments outside of the heavily populated areas in which deployment has already begun. By means of open calls for projects for each region, the plan is to grant labels together with arrangements for loans or guarantees. Secondly, the programme intends to provide support to the projects of local authorities, by means of State financial aid.
The Autorité de la concurrence will study the plan’s general orientation and the relevance, in terms of the operation of the market in question, of the public intervention provisions that are envisaged in order to promote the deployment of fibre optics, both in profitable areas and in the ones considered to be unprofitable.
It will carefully examine the envisaged selection process for the profitable areas, to ensure that this process is carried out objectively, and under conditions of effective competition.
In more general terms, the Autorité will strive to identify any possible risks relative to the competitive operation of the market for very high speed electronic communications, notably including the possible leverage effects that certain actors could enjoy, as well as the supervision and possible remedies.
It will issue its opinion at the start of March.
