Neuf and Iliad working on ftth interoperability

Today, Neuf Cegetel CEO Michel Paulin has announced that Neuf Cegetel (soon to be SFR) and Iliad (Free) were working on interoperabilty tests so that their equipment in the vertical parts of buildings will be compatible. Paulin said he was optimistic about this, much more so than he was about talks with Orange. "Orange, he declared, refuses to discuss interoperability in conditions that we consider competitive".

In parallel, this same day, French consumer association UFC Que Choisir published a press release accusing Orange of anticompetitive behaviour because, they said, Orange refuses any aggragation (and therefore potential unbundling) at the CO level. Furthermore, UFC insisted, Orange's aggregation points are often inside buildings, which requires authorisations from building owners for competitors to access. Finally, they noted that Orange isn't transparent in communicating details about the positions of their existing aggregation points. UFC asks that the government should intervene on these points.

Finally, as several blogs and newsletters have pointed out today, Orange only pulls fiber inside buildings to its own customers, thus ensuring that competitors not only have to pull fiber again, but have to get further authorisation from building owner assemblies.

It'll be interesting to see if and how Orange responds. These accusations could push the regulator into adopting a tougher stance on unbundling, which I'm sure Orange wouldn't want...