France Telecom-Orange (NYSE: FTE) is enhancing its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network expansion efforts via a new relationship with competitive provider Bouygues Telecom.
Targeting the country's 148 most densely populated areas, the incumbent telco will give Bouygues shared access to what it describes as 'the horizontal network segment leading to the foot of buildings' on its fiber networks. Inside each building, Bouygues will have the option of either building its own FTTH network or sign up for an available cable-sharing offer.
The new agreement, which could reach about 1.7 million homes, is about cutting costs by sharing resources like cable ducts. Outside of the densely populated areas, Bouygues struck a separate wholesale cable-sharing deal with France Telecom, giving it access to almost 8.9 million homes.
Bouygues is not the only provider that's working with France Telecom. Last year, the telco garnered similar agreements with fellow competitive providers Free and SFR.
These agreements are part of the service provider's aggressive FTTH program to bring fiber to 3,600 municipalities by 2015, providing service to 10 million households by 2015 and 15 million by 2020.
For more:
- TeleGeography has this article
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