BROADBAND
SERVICES COMING SOON TO LIMOUSIN REGION
Broadband is coming to France’s Limousin region,
with the first customers set to go online within the next
few weeks. Axione (a subsidiary of ETDE, part of Bouygues
Construction), the company responsible for developing the
region’s broadband network on behalf of an association
of local authorities set up under the name “Dorsal”,
is currently engaged in construction works for the fibre-optic
network.
The work is being carried out under a delegated public service
contract signed between Axione and Dorsal, which represents
the Limousin Regional Council, the Creuse, Corrèze
and Haute-Vienne departments, and the Limoges, Brive, Tulle
and Guéret urban areas.
Under the 20-year contract, Axione Limousin, the local delegated
management company, is responsible for the construction,
marketing, operation and maintenance of the Limousin region’s
Internet network, which offers broadband and ultra-broadband
connectivity. The completed infrastructure will comprise
more than 1200 kilometers of fibre-optic cable laid across
France’s most rural region.
The agreement, worth more than €85 million, is the
largest delegated public service contract for broadband
network installation to be signed anywhere in Europe.
Broadband connection for 96% of local inhabitants
The network will cover 747 local communities in Limousin,
as well as 151 industrial estates and business parks. When
construction is complete by mid-2007, 96% of the region’s
inhabitants will have access to the broadband and ultra-broadband
services installed by Axione Limousin.
Defeating isolation in the digital age
Broadband networks drive cultural, social and economic
growth, and play a key role in attracting people and businesses
to an area. In particular, the Limousin network will allow
companies to access a level of services that matches or
even exceeds what major European cities can offer.
State-of-the art technology for an ultra-high-performance
network
Axione uses state-of-the-art technology (optical fibre,
ADSL2+, WiMax) in designing its digital networks to enable
users to access the full spectrum of services of today
and tomorrow (TV, video-on-demand, ultra-broadband internet,
telephony, etc.). Ultra-broadband, which is supported
by this multi-technology infrastructure, offers higher
performance and greater stability than standard ADSL services,
as well as being 20 to 50 times faster.
Axione: a specialist installer of broadband and
ultra-broadband networks
Axione, a subsidiary of ETDE (part of Bouygues Construction),
specialises in the installation of broadband and ultra-broadband
networks for local authorities under delegated public
service contracts. The company currently has five contracts
ongoing with local authorities across France: the Limousin
region, the Pau urban area, and the Maine-et-Loire, Sarthe
and Loire departments. This number will soon increase
to six with the contract to install ultra-broadband services
for the inhabitants of Gonfreville l’Orcher (Seine-Maritime),
which comes into force on February 15.
