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
.
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