Posted Apr 1, 2023, 9:30 AM
Tick, tock, tick, tock… With the shutdown of Orange’s copper network, the countdown has also begun for businesses. Between 2026 and 2030, the technical closure of the entire network deployed since the 1950s will push professional customers of telecom operators, as well as individuals, to switch to fiber optics.
“But companies are ill-informed and some do not ask themselves the question of switching to fiber as long as ADSL works”, regrets Brice Messier, the general manager of the operator Covage. Thus, only 55% of companies were connected to fiber last year, according to an Ifop-Covage survey. By comparison, almost 80% of French people are eligible for fiber and 18 million are actually subscribers, according to Arcep.
The question of a change of operator
The prospect of a deadline opens a period of turbulence in corporate telecoms, a market worth around 8 billion euros in France. “This is an opportunity to reshuffle the cards, because many companies had subscribed to offers at a time when competition was less strong and have not changed since,” continues Brice Messier, with supporting figures.
According to the same survey, no less than 43% of companies still in ADSL plan to change operator when they switch to fiber – four times more than when there is no question of a technological leap.
With a market share of around 60%, according to the sector regulator (Arcep), Orange will undoubtedly retain its predominance in the professional world. But with the evolution of demand after the anti-Covid confinements and the efforts of Arcep to chip away at the dominance of Orange and its dolphin SFR, regional operators have already emerged.
The opportunities of the end of copper
They now hope to take advantage of this shift to nibble further ground. Like Celeste or Adista, “these operators now generate more than 100 million euros in revenue per year with ranges of services that are sometimes very innovative, particularly for VSEs/SMEs”, notes Stéphane Dubreuil, consulting director at Niji. Data storage, cybersecurity, even video surveillance, are all value-added services increasingly associated with fiber in professional offers.
Nationally, Bouygues and Iliad are in ambush. “The end of copper is a tremendous opportunity, we are determined to gain market share,” says Jean-Christophe Ravaux, Bouygues Telecom’s director for the business market. It highlights the All-in-One Business Box for fiber areas, but also dedicated fiber, and fixed 4G/5G for non-deployed areas.
“The opportunity is especially in the VSE-SME segment, which we know is lagging behind on fiber and data protection”, considers Thomas Reynaud, CEO of Iliad, who arrived on the professional market two years ago. .
The urgency of switching to fiber
In a central position on this file, Orange is however suspected by its rivals of maintaining “an asymmetry of information” on its calendar, zone by zone. Some operators say they have trouble convincing companies to take the plunge, because they cannot communicate a precise date to the professionals they prospect.
For its part, Orange replies that it has every interest in quickly closing this aging copper network which costs it around 300 million euros per year.
