Numéricable blows a gasket

Fr_dp

If you recall, I told you last week about how an amendment in the law of modernisation of the economy currently discussed in the parliament favoured Numéricable by allowing them not to sign agreements to fiber up buildings in which they were already present in coax (see The Cable Exception.)

So, first of all, my coverage was incomplete. The core reason why this favoured Numéricable was that the law specifies that the conventions that fiber operators will have to sign when entering a building guarantees open access to the vertical in the building. By not having to sign such a convention to upgrade from coax to fiber, Numéricable would not have been subject to that open access obligation, which is what the consumer association UFC Que Choisir was so pissed off about.

The parliamentary process is such that the amendment has now been rescinded. It could still change, but Numéricable is pretty miffed about it. They started a petition by sending an email to all their customers which is more than a little disingeneous (it states that the new law is attempting to preclude them from offering fiber services!)

I guess it's wait and see. I wasn't quite fired up about this issue, but now that I understand the core issue, I am more than ever puzzled at why Cable would benefit from any sort of preferential treatment.

Also posted on www.fiberevolution.com