The government gives reason to supporters of the “true” fiber – Les Echos

The debate between the “real” fiber and “false” fiber is now resolved. At least by the authorities. The government issued a decree in the “Official Journal” on Friday morning to better manage the use of the word “fiber” (which refers to the very high speed, in common language) in the operators advertisements. The battle raged for more than a year between industry players, particularly between Orange and Free one side, Numericable and SFR, on the other.

The accuse the first third of the sale of “fake” fiber. Orange and Free deploy FTTH (fiber to the home), with a fiber connection to the interior of housing, ie without cable.

However, Numericable, SFR, the group of Patrick Drahi, indeed uses predominantly the FTTB technology (fiber to the building), which allows to draw the optical fiber to the bottom of the building ; the connection is then made with a coaxial cable. This is the method that is precisely Numericable challenged by its competitors. In contrast, in the same group as Numericable, SFR is found, which uses it well FTTH.

Despite this difference in technology, each other communicate in the same way, using the term optical fiber. For fans of FTTH, there is misrepresentation of the product. In order to distinguish itself from Numericable, SFR, Orange did not hesitate in its advertisements to highlight its fiber “100% fiber” …

Input into force on 1 June 2016

the telecoms regulator itself had taken position. “ I wonder about the fact that some operators may use the word fiber in a very free manner, without clear rules of the game are asked ,” said Sébastien Soriano, President of ARCEP in September. The rules are now enacted, and they will force to review its SFR in terms of communication.

The order made by the Government indicates: “ all commercial or commercial document to a service provider [...], it combines term “fiber” the supplier’s services while the final customer connection into its housing is not made of optic fiber, includes the words “(except connecting from home) .” The phrase must appear “ after each use of the word fiber or optical fiber phrase ” specified in the order. It must also be completed in the case of a non-commercial radio, “ a second statement to the” home connection is not fiber but “.”

The order is published in a particular context: the world of French telecoms is booming while Orange and Bouygues Telecom could announce their marriage, or failure of their merger by 31 March. Officially adopted the 1 ^st March it will enter into force on 1 ^st in June 2016 for all advertising and the 1 ^st March 2017 for all commercial document.

loan Numericable, SFR to file an appeal

At Numericable, SFR, is disputed point by point all the arguments . “SFR will consider all possible remedies in France and Brussels this technologically unjustified and inadmissible arrested,” the spokesman of the group.

Beyond technology, the challenge for operators is especially winning the battle of leadership on the “very high speed” that compete Orange and Numericable- SFR. The first claims 5 million households connected to fiber, the “true” fiber, that is to say the one that goes up inside homes. The second, he presents himself as the leader of very high speed, highlighting its 8 million taken “fiber”, which feature a cable termination, mostly.

Difficult for consumers to navigate. It was he who, in use, will judge if there is a real difference between the two technologies.