France offers aid to households for high-speed fibre internet
But from September, financial assistance will be offered to households who are struggling to make the switchover from the older ADSL connection.
A decree published in France's
Journal Officiel
on July 18th establishes financial assistance for fibre-optic connection work carried out between September 1st 2025 and May 31st 2027 in certain towns, villages and hamlets – including in areas where the existing copper network is due to be shut down by the end of January 2026. Further details
here
.
Advertisement
The ageing copper network is being slowly shut down, and – if targets are met – will be completely switched off by 2030. The
Economy Ministry maintains an online interactive map
, on which users can discover when shutdown is planned for their area, by entering their postcode.
For households, assistance is available for primary residences only where 'a failure to connect to the fibre optic network must have been confirmed due to the need for work to be carried out on private property.'
Assistance allocated is determined according to the nature of the work to be carried out, classified into three categories: 'small-scale,' 'medium-scale,' or 'major work.'
By the end of December 2024, 91 percent of properties – 40.6 million – in France were connectable to the country's fibre-optic network, while four million premises still needed to be made connectable, according to figures published by administrative authority the
Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques, des Postes et de la Distribution de la Presse (Arcep)
.
It said that more than eight out of 10 internet subscriptions were to very high-speed networks at the end of last year, while three-quarters of internet subscriptions were to the fibre optic network.
Households can check whether fibre optic networks are available in their area by entering their address on a dedicated page
here
.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local France
23-07-2025
- Local France
France offers aid to households for high-speed fibre internet
France's rollout of the high-speed fibre-optic internet network is almost complete, with the vast majority of homes now in an area with available fibre. But from September, financial assistance will be offered to households who are struggling to make the switchover from the older ADSL connection. A decree published in France's Journal Officiel on July 18th establishes financial assistance for fibre-optic connection work carried out between September 1st 2025 and May 31st 2027 in certain towns, villages and hamlets – including in areas where the existing copper network is due to be shut down by the end of January 2026. Further details here . Advertisement The ageing copper network is being slowly shut down, and – if targets are met – will be completely switched off by 2030. The Economy Ministry maintains an online interactive map , on which users can discover when shutdown is planned for their area, by entering their postcode. For households, assistance is available for primary residences only where 'a failure to connect to the fibre optic network must have been confirmed due to the need for work to be carried out on private property.' Assistance allocated is determined according to the nature of the work to be carried out, classified into three categories: 'small-scale,' 'medium-scale,' or 'major work.' By the end of December 2024, 91 percent of properties – 40.6 million – in France were connectable to the country's fibre-optic network, while four million premises still needed to be made connectable, according to figures published by administrative authority the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques, des Postes et de la Distribution de la Presse (Arcep) . It said that more than eight out of 10 internet subscriptions were to very high-speed networks at the end of last year, while three-quarters of internet subscriptions were to the fibre optic network. Households can check whether fibre optic networks are available in their area by entering their address on a dedicated page here .
Euronews
18-07-2025
- Euronews
Dutch competition watchdog's fitness for purpose questioned by reports
The management and governance structure of the Netherlands' national competition authority is ineffective at handling societal, political, policy and organisational developments, according to reports commissioned by the Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans. Currently part of the national Economy Ministry, the Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) needs to become a self-governing autonomous decision-making body, according to the reports. One of the reports says that 'roles and responsibilities are too intertwined" with the ministry and that there are too many contingent dependencies. The other, carried out by PwC, concluded that there are problems in ACM's business operations, resulting in 'certain areas where relevant standards or national frameworks are not being met, or are being met to a lesser extent.' The ACM oversees various markets in the Netherlands including energy, telecom, healthcare, transport and postal services; it monitors compliance with regulations and protects consumer interests. With more and more digital legislation being introduced in the last years, the mandate of the ACM has expanded and it now also oversees companies' compliance with the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), rules to ensure fair competition online and to combat illegal content and products. Martijn Snoep, the head of the ACM, told Euronews last December that his agency is 'well equipped' for the new tasks, saying that the regulator planned to have clear enforcement priorities. Staff appointments Currently, the Minister of Economic Affairs appoints the chair and other members of the ACM, nor does the agency have full control over the organisation and personnel policy relating to the rest of its staff. The regulator also lacks budgetary freedom, which, according to the reports, results in 'lack of agility'. 'This is evident, for example, in the policy areas of energy and digital markets, which will result in many new tasks and associated expenses for the ACM in the near future, both in its role as supervisor and (particularly) as regulator,' the reports say. The ACM said in a recent letter that its merger and acquisition oversight is 'currently insufficiently efficient and effective'. In addition, it initiated fewer investigations in 2024 than the previous year, which can be explained by the significant capacity allocated to probes initiated in 2023 that continued into 2024. 'The amount of fines imposed increased slightly in 2024, but has fallen sharply over the past three years compared to previous years. A significant decline in competition is particularly noticeable. [… ] While fines should not be a goal in themselves, they do contribute to the deterrent effect of oversight. This, therefore, remains a point of attention for me,' Minister Karremans said in his letter to parliament. The ACM has initiated an improvement process for its business operations, the letter said. Karremans, part of the outgoing government, said that his successor will have to decide on revising the ACM's organisational structure. The Netherlands will have a parliamentary election on 29 October.
Local France
27-01-2025
- Local France
Calendar: France begins work to disconnect ADSL internet cables
Over the last decade France has been working to roll-out high-speed fibre internet connections to every town, village and hamlet in the country in what is know as the Plan France Très Haut Débit (very high speed France plan). This is largely complete and is on track to be rolled out everywhere - with the exception of a few 'dead zones' known as Zones blanches - by the end of 2025, according to Orange France. Now starts the next phase - the disconnection of the fixed lines that provided the old broadband connections, known as ADSL or sometimes SDSL and VDSL. Work has now started to disconnect the million of kilometres of copper cables, which will be recycled, and Orange France has published a detailed map and calendar of when the disconnections will happen. You can find the interactive map HERE, and enter your commune name or postcode to see if there is a start date for work in your area, or your commune is n'est pas programmé pour le moment (no start date yet). Work began this week in the first communes to be disconnected and Orange will then continue on a rolling programme which is due to be completed by 2030. They explain: "The historic network first brought the French fixed-line telephone, fax, the Minitel [a proto-internet project developed in France in the 1980s] then the internet and television throughout France. "The rollout of fibre optic connections across the country, a priority for the government through the France Très Haut Débit plan, and the acceleration in the adoption of fibre by the French since the Covid pandemic, have made the closure of Orange's historic network possible. "The disconnection of the copper cables network is a project undertaken by the operator of the copper network (which is Orange France). It concerns all commercial operators (including Orange) and should be completed by 2030." What does this mean for your commune? Work has begun on disconnection in just a handful of communes - of those places that do have a start date for disconnection work, most of them are after January 1st 2026. The work will then continue until 2030 (and that's if everything happens on time), so for most people there is no immediate change. If you are already connected to the internet via fibre then nothing changes, but if you are on an ADSL connection then eventually you will have to change to fibre. You can check your connection type via your bills or on your online account for your internet provider. Your internet provider should inform you well in advance of the change, and give you options on price to make the switch. Although Orange France is doing the disconnection works, the change applies to everyone - and any changes to your account will be done via your internet provider. Depending on the services that you already have (internet, TV, fixed phone line) you may be able to make the switch to fibre via a simple phone call to your provider, or via your online account. If you have an older connection, you may be sent out a new decoder box to allow you to access fibre services - although your account itself should stay the same. The changes do not affect fixed phone lines or mobile phone contracts, but it may affect how you get your TV, if you don't already have a decoder box to access TV channels. Will it be more expensive? The exact price difference - and if there is one - depends on your internet provider. If you're signing up for a new contract, most operators now only offer fibre, so there is no choice. When it comes to switching from ADSL to fibre, price comparison websites report that for most operators there is little to no difference in price, although several sites noted that the low-cost operators RED and Sosh offer the same prices only for the first six months of a new fibre contract, before reverting to a higher price.
