La Réunion to have a fibre-optic next-generation broadband network

Article – French language

ZEOP apporte la fibre optique à La Réunion – DegroupNews.com

My Comments

Previously, I had written an article about La Réunion, one of France’s “Départements Outre Mer” colonies having to deal with the issue of costly Internet access on that island.

Now there is action afoot to set up a next-generation broadband network on this island near Madagascar. ZEOP, who is an ISP that services this colony has put up the idea of a fibre-optic network being set up via their “Réunicable” subsidiary.

They will initially work on Saint Gilles which is their main economic centre due to the existence of a popular seaside resort with the work starting in April 2013. The goal is to connect 11000 premises to the network but I am not sure whether this effort is the same “fibre-to-the-node” deployment with a coaxial run to the subscriber as has been set up by Réunicable for the Pont D’Yves and Bras de Ponth dual-play services.

There will be an expectation that ZEOP /Réunicable shares the infrastructure with competing retail carriers and providers in that territory as has been mandated in the French mainland. But ZEOP want to run their retail service as a triple-play €49.90 / month with included telephone calls to landlines within La Réunion, to France and 60 other international destinations; 50 TV channels and an Internet service of 35Mbps download / 2Mbps upload bandwidth.

Of course, as I have mentioned in the previous coverage on this Département Outre-Mer, there is the issue of increasing the bandwidth that the island has to the rest of the Internet world. This could be about making La Réunion become a link between Africa and other European and Asian territories through the use of more satellite and submarine cable uplinks.

As well, I would like to see ZEOP look at other technologies that can do the job better, for better value in this island like use of VDSL2 for the copper run or full fibre-to-the-premises.

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