nearly one in five households deprived of a “real” very high speed, according to UFC-Que Choisir

2023-04-18 07:59:07

Nearly one in five households, i.e. 11.8 million consumers, is still deprived of a “genuine” very high-speed Internet connection, according to a study published Tuesday, April 18 by UFC-Que Choisir, which pleads in particular for the creation “of an opposable right” quality internet access.

Launched in 2013 so that all French people have an ultra-fast Internet connection and that France accelerates the installation of fiber optics on its territory, the government plan France very high speed (THD) mobilized almost 36 billion euros of investments public and private in ten years, according to France Strategy, an organization attached to Matignon.

17% of households without very high-speed Internet

“If the official figures show that the objective has been achieved”, UFC-Que Choisir points out that its study “However, it forces the satisfaction of the government to be mitigated”while for 17.2% of households, i.e. 11.8 million consumers, access to this very high speed (a speed greater than 30 Mbits/s) “is only possible by subscribing to offers using hertzian technologies (fixed 4G, THD radio) or satellite”.

“However, these are second-rate technologies compared to offers using traditional wired networks” such as fiber optics, adds the association, specifying that “it is the most rural departments that are the main victims of the digital divide”.

At the end of 2022, the number of very high speed subscriptions was estimated at 21.5 million, according to the Telecoms Regulatory Authority (Arcep), including 18.1 million in optical fiber.

An “opposable right” to the Internet

The government announces the objective of a “generalization” optical fiber by 2025, while the historical copper network of the operator Orange, the only source of access to the telephone network for several million French people, must be closed by 2030.

“We have to find an agreement” between the State, operators and local authorities to meet the “challenges” remainder of “major fiber project” and distribute the financial effort “in a fair and just manner”Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition, declared on Wednesday before the Senate Economic Affairs Committee.

To fight against the digital divide and enable ” a real “ access to very high speed for all consumers, the UFC-Que Choisir pleads in particular for “an enforceable right” quality Internet access, based on “both on the determination by law of the minimum speeds that consumers must benefit from, and on the compensation that they should benefit from if these speeds are not reached”.