Fiber: the sale of the TDF network and the suspense around SFR agitate the market

The phones are heating up in the operators’ headquarters, where the lying poker game has begun. With the sale of the TDF fiber network (750,000 very high speed sockets) and the suspense as to how Altice France could promote its subsidiary XpFibre (7.2 million sockets) to repay his debt, the digital infrastructure sector is experiencing a strong comeback.

Ten years after the launch of the France Très Haut Débit plan, which made it possible to provide 81% fiber coverage in France but which also concentrated the market around a handful of players (Orange, SFR and a few other infrastructure operators), these two pieces of news bring the sector out of relative lethargy. The last major movement dates from 2021, when Orange ceded part of its holdings to a consortium, creating Orange Concessions with it.