Friday March 16 in Angers, TDF and Anjou Numérique, a French open joint county syndicate, officially formed Anjou Fibre, a TDF subsidiary installing and operating a fiber network in French county Maine-et-Loire’s sparsely populated areas.
Anjou Fibre strives to be a major digital provider in Maine-et-Loire serving municipalities, businesses and Anjou (French region) local residents. Rolling out fiber will accelerate and bolster internet connections backed by bandwidth of up to one gigabyte per second.
This large-scale project seeks to shore up Anjou’s economic appeal and will help to attract new businesses to the region.
TDF’s project for Maine-et-Loire
Following a competitive tender lasting several months, TDF came away with a 25-year contract to roll out, operate and market a fiber network in the county’s rural areas. The contract involves installing 220,000 plugs bringing ultra high-speed broadband to residents and businesses throughout the region by 2022.
In Maine-et-Loire, TDF plans to invest some €288 million to roll out new optical fiber digital infrastructure.
TDF won the contract because municipalities and Anjou Numérique saw TDF as a first class and stable regional digital provider backed by strong financial fundamentals and capable of rapidly rolling out fiber in rural areas.
First homes connected by year-end 2018
The first operational phase of the job has already started. This phase consists of conducting detailed studies to identify existing engineering infrastructure, establish specific parts of the network and identify street cabinets connecting homes and businesses.
The second phase will cover the bulk of the work. New networks will be rolled out gradually. The first homes will be connected starting late 2018.
Partnership with Bouygues Telecom
TDF has already signed a global deal with Bouygues Telecom allowing the operator to market its telecoms packages on all TDF’s fiber networks including in Maine-et-Loire. Negotiations are ongoing with other ISPs.
Training and vocational integration
In an effort to support Anjou companies that will need qualified staff to roll out infrastructure, TDF will set up three optical fiber training centers. These centers will also be tasked with keeping an eye on students as they take on new jobs arising from their training.
Further, TDF undertakes to fund social and vocational integration projects in the county by founding a specific fund designed to make it easier to start and develop charities, startups, business incubators, and other entities helping to bring about social inclusion.
TDF is gearing up to bring more jobs to Maine-et-Loire while seeking to fulfill the objectives of the county’s social inclusion plan.
TDF, a credible and acknowledged fiber operator
For TDF, a few months after winning French county Val d’Oise’s public initiative network tender, French county Les Yvelines’ invitation to invest and the late December 2017 public service outsourcing contract of French counties Indre-et-Loire and Loir-et-Cher, this latest Maine-et-Loire contract shores up the Company’s fiber market share and strategy seeking to provide ultra high- speed broadband in sparsely populated areas.