French telecoms regulator Arcep plans to impose several new obligations on market leader Orange to improve companies’ access to ultra-fast fixed broadband services.
The regulator underscored Orange’s dominance in the French corporate market and said French small- and medium-sized enterprises need “a real choice” when it came to fiber-optics technology, which offers higher Internet speed than the copper-based ADSL alternative.
“The development of a fiber mass market for micro enterprises and SMEs is a vital part of the French economy´s digitization,” Arcep said in a statement, Reuters reported.
“Arcep has noted Orange´s very strong position in the business market,” it added.
New regulatory measures will include the obligation for Orange to allow alternative operators to resell its products for allowing access to the business market, and pricing regulation for wholesale offers to businesses to avoid “excessive” and “predatory pricing”.
Arcep said the regulatory changes are set to be implemented from January 2018 onwards and will be formally adopted after a public consultation, with final decisions due before the end of November.
Former monopoly Orange has invested heavily lately in deploying the so-called “Fiber to the home” network in France, becoming the market leader in this field.
Rivals SFR Group and Iliad have also entered the race and are spending billions to deploy their own fiber network.
Orange was believed to be in discussions previously with Mobile Communications Company of Iran, which ended unsuccessfully.
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