registration document France Telecom 2009 - Orange.com

6 OVERVIEW
overview of the Group’s Business
OF BUSINESS
Enterprise Communication Services
6.3.6.3 Regulatory Environment
Orange Business Services’ operation is above all regulated
in France. The French regulator (Arcep), which places special
emphasis on the reproducti bility of retail offers to businesses,
checks that wholesale offers proposed by Orange Business
Services are appropriate technically and economically, to
ensure effective competition in the French retail markets. Also,
average regulated access prices in France are among the
lowest in Europe, which is also due to France’s lead in terms of
technological migration.
Z KEY EVENTS CONCERNING FRENCH REGULATION
IN 2009
April First public consultation concerning the analysis
of markets for capacity services
September The Arcep requests a change in the terms of
access to France Telecom’s civil engineering
facilities, in order to facilitate the optical fi ber
connection of business buildings by operators.
October Opinion of the Competition Authority on the
analysis of markets for capacity services.
February 2010 Public consultation on the Arcep draft decision
sent to the European Commission.
In 2009, the regulatory environment for the Business market in
France was marked by:
■ the analysis on markets for capacity services conducted by
the Arcep;
■ changes to wholesale offers specifi c to the Business market,
particularly the offer for access to France Telecom’s civil
engineering facilities for the optical fi ber connection of
business buildings.
The new market analysis conducted by the Arcep is intended
to defi ne the new regulatory framework that will apply for a
maximum period of three years. The analysis covers the retail
market, the wholesale terminating segment services market,
and the wholesale inter-urban segment services market. After
several public consultations during 2009, the defi nitive decision
should be adopted during the fi rst half-year 2010.
Removal of regulation on the retail market, and transmission
of protocols for accounting separation with regard to
customized offers
The analysis carried out by the Arcep proposed lifting the
regulation on the retail market, tempered by the imposition of an
obligation for accounting information transmission to the Arcep
in respect of the wholesale market.
This obligation, if it is confi rmed, will require France Telecom to
provide the Arcep with a protocol for accounting separation for
each customized offer constituted downstream of the wholesale
terminating segment services market, if the value of the contract
exceeds a threshold of 100,000 euros.
Wholesale Terminating Segment Offers
Concerning wholesale terminating segment service offers,
France Telecom has committed to have the CE2O offer (Operator
Optical Ethernet Collection) for alternative interface capacity
services via optical fi ber , and the DSLE offer (DSL business) for
broadband Internet access and alternative interface capacity
services via copper wires, remain available for the duration of
the market analysis (3 years).
France Telecom has also announced that, in the second halfyear
2010, it will market the Wholesale Entreprises IP (WE-IP
- Wholesale Business IP) offer, a wholesale all-Ethernet access
and collection offer for transporting IP traffi c and that, in the
second half-year 2011, it will market the Wholesale Entreprises
LAN (WE-LAN - Wholesale Business LAN) offer. The latter is
a wholesale access and collection offer for supporting LAN
interconnection services for companies.
For speeds greater than 100 Mbit/s, the market analysis showed
that the operators are able to roll out their own optical local
loop infrastructures to connect business sites. This analysis is
based in particular on the evolution of the process for accessing
France Telecom’s civil engineering facilities, aiming to facilitate
the optical fi ber connection of business buildings by operators.
Regulation of submarine cables linking Reunion Island with
mainland France and mainland France with French Guiana
In spite of the opinion of the Competition Council, which notes
that competitive pressure already exists on the submarine
section of cables where France Telecom no longer has signifi cant
infl uence, the Arcep still considers that France Telecom has
signifi cant infl uence on the “ mainland France-Reunion Island ”,
“ mainland France-French Guiana” and “ Martinique-French
Guiana” segments.
However, regulation is confi ned to the additional terrestrial
segment between the station where the cable comes ashore
and France Telecom’s closest termination-point connection:
a cost orientation and cost accounting obligation has been
implemented.
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2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / FRANCE TELECOM