The final Optical Connection Node was installed in Petit-Caux in Seine Maritime on June 28.
Following the milestone of 100,000 connections built for Seine-Maritime Numérique on April 19, the symbolic installation of this last Optical Connection Node (OCN) marks a new step towards completing the project.
The Syndicat Mixte Seine-Maritime Numérique awarded the work to roll out fibre optic to a consortium consisting of Bouygues Energies & Services, Axione and Résonance in 2018 to provide superfast broadband access to all premises by 2023.
The goal of this regional digitalisation project is to enable everyone living in the department, together with all businesses and public services, to take full advantage of the different uses that fibre can serve, from remote working, telemedicine and distance education to multi-connections and paperless administrative formalities.
Since 2016, the local teams from Bouygues Energies & Services have been supporting the Syndicat Mixte Seine-Maritime Numérique with the civil engineering contracts for rolling out the first FTTH connections, including 115 km of trenches and 3,000 supports. This partnership is continuing as fibre is deployed in the department in collaboration with Axione. Our teams are fully mobilised together to respond in the best way possible to the challenges presented by this great project
Cédric Gourvil, project manager, Bouygues Energies & Services
A few facts and figures about the project awarded to Axione and Bouygues Energies & Services:
- 600 km of mechanised trenches
- 54 m of traditional trenches
- 13,600 supports created, replaced or reset
- 17 NRO
- 270 optical cross-connect cabinets installed
- 6,000 km of cables laid
- 30,000 optical boxes installed
The work to deploy superfast broadband has been bringing economic benefits for three years now. Over 300 people are working hard on this large-scale project. Internally, there are 85 of us across all services. In addition, there are the people who work for our 40 sub-contracting partners. Numerous companies are also giving us assistance, even if not all of them are based in Seine-Maritime. Different types of jobs are involved in the project. We have an in-house design office, but there are also sub-contractors for the design features. Then there is the civil engineering element, directed by Bouygues Energies & Services, with companies having to dig trenches alongside roads, erect poles, install street cabinets, telecommunication rooms and the like – so it’s largely a question of earthwork. This then means that companies specialising in optical work can uncoil and connect the cables
Jérémie Léonardi, head of rollout in Seine-Maritime
DID YOU KNOW?
An OFN is the first network infrastructure to guarantee FFTH coverage in a number of communes. Located in a shelter, a concrete cabinet that protects the infrastructure (see photo below) houses the equipment of the operators who shall offer access to Internet to individual households, communities and businesses on the network. This equipment shall be connected to several Concentration Points (CP), generally located in a street cabinet. In a fibre optic network, the CP is the point where the lines converge that will serve future subscribers in the same district or city once they have been connected by the operators.
The symbolic installation of this last Optical Connection Node (OCN) marks a new step towards completing the work to deploy fibre optic that was awarded to the Bouygues Energies & Services, Axione and Résonance consortium.