It is awaited by many Berrichons. Since 2017, large-scale works have started in Indre and Cher, so that by 2025, 100% of the two departments are connected to fiber optics. This is already the case in Châteauroux and other large cities. But when is its rural areas, just over three years from the deadline?
155,000 sockets deployed in the two departments
It’s gone pretty well. Despite the Covid, the work schedule was kept. “We have, in the long term, around 240,000 catches which are planned for the two departments, account Laurent Roussat, the director of Berry Fiber Optique, which operates the network in Berry. To date, we are at 155,000 catches deployed. We have 92,000 in the department of Cher and we are at 63,000 in the department of Indre.” This therefore makes 57% of the municipalities outside the agglomeration of Châteauroux which are connected to the fiber in the Indre. And 72% of towns outside the agglomerations of Bourges and Vierzon connected in the Cher.
Connect municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants
But today, the hardest part remains to be done. Phase 1 of this large fiber connection concerned cities with more than 1,000 inhabitants. It ended in December 2021. Phase 2, which started in February concerns towns with less than 1,000 inhabitants. “What’s left is what’s most expensive, which requires a lot of cables to deploy for little grip compared to what’s been done previously, explains Christophe Courtemanche, head of the RIP 36 joint syndicate, in charge of the deployment of fiber in Indre. And these are not even the most complicated villages. It’s really isolated dwellings. You have, for example, a house that is one kilometer from the nearest houses. It is these isolated houses that are the most complicated”
100% of Berry connected by 2025
But the goal remains the same. 100% of Berry connected to optical fiber by the end of 2025. “Today, as you know, we faced a health crisis for two years in the face of which the company was perfectly able to adapt, react, and respect the deployment schedule, defends Laurent Roussat. VSe which leads us to be very confident on the ability to achieve the objective by the end of 2025.” The next municipalities in the territory to be connected to the fiber will be Saint-August, Ambrault and Bommiers.