Some French muni BB inspiration to Maybe Rep's Boucher & Upton?

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

From: dhvanderwoude () gmail com [mailto:dhvanderwoude () gmail com] On Behalf Of
D.H. van der Woude
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 6:38 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: Some French muni BB inspiration to Maybe Rep's Boucher & Upton?

 

for IP if you wish


An older post from Esme's site, with a good description 
by Philippe Llau of Law 1425 which the French adopted 
back in june 2004. In it Cities and Departments are
explicitedly allowed to roll out broadband networks, i.e.
fiber backbone and/or FttH. Nowadays there are over 
a hundred projects, small and big. One famous one
is the plan to do FttH in Hauts-de-Seine, the department
chaired by Mr Sarkozy until he became President. 
Sarkozy was the man personally proprosing the FttH
roll out in Hauts de Seine. 

I do think that Law 1425 shares some responsability for 
the French broadband explosion of the last four years.

The French example might be inspiring to the US Congress,
especially now that for the first time in ages (if not ever) the 
French President is holidaying in the USA ;-)

BTW: it seems that the famous Commissioner Mme Gauthey 
had quite a role in getting Law 1425 adopted. Here is a
picture FCC Commisioner Tate together with ARCEP 
Commissioner Gauthey (3d picture, 
http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/tate/album-global-forum.html
<http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/tate/album-global-forum.html> )

Whether they discussed broadband?

grtz
Dirk

===========

http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/4829




Posted by Esme Vos at 7:42 PM on September 5, 2005


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Municipal broadband in France 



France is currently seeing interesting developments in broadband Internet
access thanks to a combination of legal and political changes, new projects
from municipalities and/or local and regional governments, and also thanks
to the rapid uptake of an affordable and competitive ADSL. Moreover, Wi-fi
is gaining a foothold and 3.5 GHz licensing just started two weeks ago. 

By the end of this year, France will have 8 million Internet subscribers,
among which 35% will be through copper ADSL provided by incumbent France
Telecom or through unbundling with/from its rival competitor carriers: Free,
Neuf Telecom, Club Internet, Tele2, Axione, etc. 

Broadband Internet is also provided by cable operators and some wireless
local loop (WLL) plus one pre-WiMAX operator. By 2009, France is expected to
have 10 million users and over 50% of those will be via broadband. 

Municipalities, cities, states, territories and regions are driving the
French municipal (wireless and wired) broadband uptake as newly authorized
by law. A new article of French "code général des communications" passed in
June 2004 (law ref code is L-1425-1) gives these public entities the
following rights : 

1. build, subsidize and develop "passive" telecom infrastructure and
provide/transfer them to carriers or independent local users. 2. build open
networks on a given territory and provide/transfer them to a territorial
carrier. 3. operate open telecommunications networks in respect of
regulations. 4. provide telecommunications services to end users. 

Major terms, conditions and limitations to those new rights are: 

- Prior to launching an initiative, the public entity must show the absence
or lack of similar connectivity, access or service from incumbent
operator(s) in the territory. Absence or lack of telecom service is so far a
"sui generis" process. - Give proof of lack of service from private sector
in the case of above mentioned right n°4. A RFI or tender declared void or
incomplete will serve as testimony. - This activity must be carried out
independently of any other territorial activities (power generation, water,
ducts, etc.) and have separate accounting. - Network is to be opened and
shared. - New local operator will respect fair, transparent and
non-discriminatory business rules. 

Detailed information to be found, in French and some in English, on the
ARCEP (French regulatory body) webpage : www.arcep.fr
<http://www.arcep.fr/> 

This major change and the strong desire among municipalities to overcome the
geo-digital divide has enabled the launch of 30 to 40 major projects from
small Provence villages enjoying Wi-Fi or mesh, up to much bigger projects
with FTTx and WiMAX in French states or regions such as Limousin, Normandy,
Picardie, Corsica or Pyrénees Atlantiques. 

Another proof of the strong influence of municipal and regional power is the
WiMAX licensing starting this month. It will be regional. Mainland France,
divided in 22 administrative regions, will then "tender" 2 x 22 spectrum
licences at 3.5 GHz. Spectrum will "geo-divided" all over France and one may
find pros and cons to the way this tender will be run. No doubt it will give
another boost to France muniwireless markets 

About the author 

Philippe Llau joined TDF a year ago to develop business partnerships in
France and Europe with major vendors, multimedia operators and carriers. TDF
is the leading broadcast and tower company in France. They serve and provide
tower services and broadcast expertise to major European TV, radio channels,
wireless and broadband operators. Prior to TDF, Philippe worked for Orange
and France Telecom where he held various marketing and operations positions
in France, Madagascar and Central America. Prior to that Philippe worked for
Meta International, an on-line software house; he lived in Mexico and
Thailand (developing home-banking services in Mexico-City and an online
directory project in Bangkok). 

Philippe holds a Master's Degree from La Sorbonne Paris University and
completed an Executive Program from ESSEC Business School in 2000. 

 

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