Fibre broadband in Calais and the surrounding area: where things stood at the end of 2022

In 2013, the French government launched the France très haut débit plan. Its aim was to cover the whole country with fibre optic broadband. In 2022, nearly 10 years after it began, the plan appears to be going well. ARCEP announced a national coverage rate of 81% in the second half of this year.

Satisfying as these figures are, they suggest that some towns still aren't served by the very-high-speed network.

Live in or around Calais and want to know whether your town has fibre yet? In this article, we take stock of the rollout of the France très haut débit plan in Calais and the surrounding area.

Calais and the surrounding area: 85% fibre coverage

Several years after it began, the project to connect the whole country to fibre optic broadband looks to be on track as this year draws to a close. For more, you can suivre le déploiement sur ce site.

In Calais, the fibre rollout figures are equally interesting. In 2020, the département had a coverage rate of 85%, or more than thirty-two thousand homes and businesses.

Two years on, that figure has moved considerably. In October, Pas-de-Calais reached 99.05% FttH coverage (up from 98.09% the year before).

In this part of France, very-high-speed broadband is most widely available through the private provider SFR, which is rolling out its fibre network across the town and every commune in the département.

SFR had, in fact, committed to connecting the whole town by the end of 2022 — a promise it appears to have kept, going by the figures published so far.

Fibre rollout by provider in Calais

In the Pas-de-Calais département, SFR serves the largest number of homes. But the other providers (Orange, Free and Bouygues Télécom) aren't far behind, since they co-fund SFR's rollout network.

SFR, the main provider

Before the France très haut débit plan was launched, the town of Calais had put out a tender (in 2022). SFR responded by committing to serve the whole town with an FTTH network — one that brings fibre right to your door.

This project, which promised to be a demanding one, had a deadline of the end of 2022. Today, SFR is present across the whole of the Pas-de-Calais département and offers its services there.

The other providers (Orange, Free and Bouygues Télécom)

The other operators have also rolled out their fibre networks in the town of Calais. That said, their coverage remains less extensive than SFR's.

• Orange offers very-high-speed broadband across the whole town. However, it uses just one distribution technology: FTTH;
• Free is present in central Calais and in certain districts. The network intends to expand further in the coming years;
• BouyguesTélécom also offers fibre in central Calais and the surrounding area.

What are the advantages of fibre optic broadband?

Compared with traditional long-distance copper networks, fibre optic broadband offers some considerable advantages:

• Reduced risk of interference: fibre optic cable has physical properties that prevent interference when cables run close together or are connected;
• Greater capacity: fibre optic cables have the best bandwidths, rated at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps or even 100 Gbps;
• Faster connection speeds thanks to the excellent throughput.

Fibre optic broadband is improving daily life for many French households

The very-high-speed connection offered by fibre optic broadband gives consumers a better online experience. More importantly, it will improve their daily lives:

• For businesses, fibre optic broadband makes things like remote meetings easier;
• Fibre optic broadband is also driving the development of technology — for example, improving gadgets such as virtual reality headsets, which are very useful in the fast-growing virtual world;
• It supports the best trading methods for players in online commerce;
• In the farming sector, fibre optic broadband can help businesses manage their operations more effectively.