At the end of 2017, Axione won a contract with the Cullettività di Corsica (the Corsican regional authorities) to carry out works to roll out fibre optic in Northern Corsica.
In addition to the FTTH public initiative network (PIN), the works will help to extend the fibre-optic backhaul network to areas with little to no infrastructure in place, so that they can enjoy better connectivity.
In order to successfully complete this project, Axione has set up in Lucciana and has hired new employees from across Corsica. Our teams are also using a number of subcontracting companies located there for the civil-engineering and fibre-optic works. These sections mean that, subsequently, the fibre optic will be able to feed through without causing any damage to Corsica’s beautiful protected natural landscapes.
Therefore, our expertise is being harnessed to manage the entire roll-out project and help to improve digital coverage in the region.
For 3 years, our teams have been working to roll out fibre optic in the département of Seine-Maritime, with 50,000 connections being created.
In order to press ahead with the regional digitalisation project, the Syndicat Seine-Maritime Numérique is partnering with a consortium made up of Axione, Bouygues Energies & Services and Résonance in order to provide access to superfast broadband to all premises from April 2022.
On 19 April, the significant milestone of the 100,000th connection was achieved, which was marked with an event held for Seine-Maritime Numérique, where many of our employees ran a welding workshop.
Our involvement in the event has helped us to build up a strong relationship and trust with our customer Seine-Maritime Numériqueover a number of years.
Jérémie Leonardi, the Roll-Out Manager in Seine-Maritime.
a comprehensive solution that is high-performance, economical, and environmentally friendly.
In order to provide highly secure, superfast connectivity to park customers, our experts used the POL (Passive Optical LAN) solution to install network infrastructure connecting 850 villas throughout the Center Parcs Bois aux Daims resort (incl. technical sites and public areas) in the Vienne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. As a result, all holiday-makers will benefit from full network coverage in their accommodation with a superfast connection providing access to several services, including television, WiFi, and internet.
Interaview
Passive Optical LAN is based on passive fibre optic point-to-multipoint architecture, and is a high-performance, economical, and environmentally friendly solution. This network is supervised by the Pau supervision centre and provides a comprehensive solution combining a complete set IT technologies on the same network.
This technology requires very little equipment. The aim is to minimise the number of technical facilities located throughout the park. The boxes installed in each park villa are highly energy efficient and free up 90% of the floor space taken up by conventional equipment.
Interaview
As well as being shared, some of the equipment used is passive, so it needs no electrical supply. As the traffic aggregation is only passive, its energy consumption is significantly reduced compared to other solutions—by 30 to 50%.
This particular operation embodies Axione’s desire and commitment to reduce energy consumption throughout all of the projects it is involved in.
Axione’s technological expertise allows for the provision of a comprehensive solution providing connectivity across the whole of the Center Parcs site, while also meeting user needs.
states Eric Tournois from the Sales Department for Managed Services for Regions
The long-term objective is to continue digital rollout for regions while combining these new technological advances with current environmental challenges.
PASSIVE OPTICAL LAN (POL): WHAT IS IT?
POL is a passive point-to-multipoint fibre optic architecture used for smaller areas such as buildings or campuses
The advantages: A high-performance, economical, and environmentally friendly solution: – Increased security: data encryption – The facilities used provide significant digital coverage These are actually placed 20km apart – The architecture can be adjusted to suit the project (connection of new campuses, speed increases, etc.) – Allows for a 40% reduction in energy consumption – Frees up 90% of floor space – Reduces cabling costs and volume
To read our other news :
The Grand Hotel of Font-Romeu connected to fiber optics
A mobile connection at the top with Axione!
live from the building sites
As part of the New Deal project, teams from Axione’s construction division commissioned the first New Deal radio site, deployed by Axione in the Var department.
What a great achievement for Axione!
The first New Deal site, built and commissioned by teams from the construction division, will be opened for commercial use by leading operator Bouygues Telecom by the end of June in the commune of Pontevès (Var department).
This initial delivery will allow the 4 national operators to provide regional inhabitants with 4G access offers.
The commissioning of this first 36 metre tall pylon will provide 4G network coverage to around 700 inhabitants.
Deadlines were very tight but we were able to work during the lockdown. Employees were able to progressively resume activity on this project.
Director of Network Operations for the Southeast of France, Gaëtan Nicolas, and Head of Rollout and Negotiation for the Aix-en-Provence Production Unit, Sébastien Barralon, stress the personal investment and commitment of the ten or so Axione employees that were active in ensuring the project’s successful delivery despite limitations due to the recent crisis
What is the “New Deal Project”?
The New Deal is a large-scale project, jointly developed and operated by the French State and various national mobile network operators, with the aim of providing areas lacking coverage, otherwise known as “black spots”, with 4G. Network operators such as Bouygues Telecom, Orange, SFR, and Free are thus committed to rolling out network coverage in these areas in the coming years.
TODAY, SARTEL THD AND AXIONE ARE ORGANISING THE INAUGURATION OF THEIR NEW HOME THAT WILL HOUSE ALL THE TEAMS.
This “shared home” will bring together
under one roof all the employees who are working together very closely on the
same project: “Fibre is coming to your
home”[1].
This event took place with the
following people present: Marie-Pierre
Brosset, the Deputy Chair of the Departmental Council; Martine Crnkovic, Departmental Council
Member; Xavier Devisse,
the Director of Sarthe Numérique (Digital) – Nicolas Hecq, the Technical Director of Sarthe Numérique
– Ghislain Herault, the
Financial Director of Axione, Rémi
Carrière – the Director of Sartel THD –and the Chairmen of the consolidated municipalities
who are cofinancing the deployment of fibre optics in the public service area.
Processed with VSCO with c1 preset
About the High-Speed Fibre Plan in the Sarthe:
The Departmental Council of the Sarthe has embarked on an innovative approach with a view to making digital technology a key tool for the area’s development and attractiveness. The ambition of the Sarthe Numérique and the Department of the Sarthe, together with all the municipal authorities, the Region, The French State and Europe, is to get optical fibre into every home in the Sarthe by the end of 2022. Sarthe Numérique has signed a Public Service Delegation Contract with Sartel THD for a 30 year period as from January 1st, 2019 in order to carry out this project.
[1] ”Fibre is coming to your home” is the name of the project that is devoted to rolling out very high speed fibre optic internet in the Sarthe department.
Isabelle Spanneut, Axione’s Human Resources Director was the guest of Compétences, the radio show that talks about recruitment on bfm business!
The podcast of the show Compétences on BFM BUSINESS
Interview mediarh.com – Alexandre Lichon
Mediarh.com: What characterizes your company?
Isabelle
Spanneut: Axione is first of all an industrial and human
adventure that started in 2003 to respond to the issue of digital development
of territories, with one ambition: to make the Internet accessible to everyone
and everywhere.
In concrete terms, we design, build and finance the operation of fiber and
radio telecom networks that are then used by telecom operators such as Orange,
SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free and others.
The gamble taken in 2003 paid off! Axione, now owned by Bouygues Energies &
Services and Vauban Infrastructure Partners, a subsidiary of Natixis, has 2,200
employees and consolidated sales of 550 million euros. It is a company that
carries out large-scale projects and is a leader in the digital regional
development market.
What need does your recruitment meet?
Our workforce has doubled in 2 years, and this year
again we’re pursuing a dynamic and ambitious recruitment policy with over 500
open positions.
Axione is at the center of a booming market, driven by new uses of digital
technology.
What kinds of positions are available?
These 500 positions are to be filled throughout France
as permanent contracts.
We’re looking for a wide range of profiles to design, build and maintain our
fixed and mobile networks: telecom technicians, design engineers, and project
engineers.
We are also recruiting developers and tool administrators to manage our
information system.
We are recruiting network engineers and architects and others to operate fixed
and mobile networks.
Cross-functional positions are also represented as we are also regularly
looking for financial controllers and sales administrators, for example.
What are the values to be shared?
Beyond the values of the Bouygues Construction Group that we share, I would speak of a corporate culture based on entrepreneurship, team spirit, caring and empowerment of our employees.
What’s the added value that you offer?
Working at Axione allows everyone to take part in an
ambitious and meaningful corporate project, that of changing the lives of
people and companies.
To do this, we are open to all types of profiles and can offer people who are
unlikely to fin a job the opportunity to join us and then be trained in our
professions.
Moreover, given its strong growth and the diversity of its professions, Axione
offers real and rapid development prospects in France and now internationally.
Our ambition in 2020 is actually to export the French model of shared fiber
optic infrastructure across the Channel, which will generate medium-term
resource requirements.
It should also be remembered that Axione is backed by the Bouygues Construction
Group and as such can offer our employees diversified mobility paths.
Getting fibre into farms is the challenge for the Oise department, which has financed a public network for rural dwellers. The final lines will be delivered several years early, as we could witness when we were there.
Like him, all the rural dwellers in the Oise will be
eligible for fibre optic internet by the end of the year, and they will be able
to request a connection with nothing to pay out, even if they live in an
isolated location. This is how the Oise will become the first rural area with
complete fibre optic coverage in Europe.
Fibre optic internet fulfils Sébastien’s connectivity needs. The farmer’s usage is on the rise…consulting the weather, using software for tracking plots of land, video monitoring, manufacturers’ apps like ones from Michelin for checking tyre pressure. “I’m also going to invest in an automated machine for sorting asparagus. If I have an issue with it, the maintenance and support teams can work remotely thanks to fibre”, he explained. His family are also pleased now about being able to get the Netflix video streaming service. “Today I think that I am better connected than in some cities”, he said in conclusion.
Fibre will be able to attract companies and people
Further to the west of the department,in
Trie-Château, the mayor elect Laurent Desmeliers impatiently watches the final
adjustments to the network before its market launch for its 1900 residents. “A lot of the people who live here work
in Paris for large companies where remote working is commonplace. For that you
need decent internet speed, so that’s fiber”, he asserts. “And then, that may attract some companies,
artisans, even residents”, he added, with the conviction that these
days, connectivity is a criterion that is just as important as nearby schools
when moving home. He is also delighted that the town hall can benefit from it,
and he believes he will be able to save time with admin tasks.
A programme launched in 2013
At first glance, it is somewhat surprising that the Oise is a prime example, as rural areas are not really considered as the most fertile soil for private operators. The investment cost per socket is higher in the country and it earns less. This success story is nothing to do with dumb luck. It was the department’s decision to create a Public Initiative Network, or a PIN, as it is known in Telecoms jargon.
The fibre optic network belongs to the municipality and has been subsidised by the French state, the department, the region, the departmental council and Europe. The Syndicat Mixte Oise Très Haut Débit (SMOTHD) is managing the program that was launched in 2013. The system functions like a kind of patchwork and does not include more densely-populated areas like Beauvais, Creil, Compiègne and Senlis. It only covers rural areas. This means that an industrial programme had to be managed over an area that was fragmented and disparate.
It takes longer to build a fibre optic network in rural areas, and it’s more costly too
Following a call to tender, the work was awarded to a group of companies that includes Axion, Bouygues Energies et Services and Sobeca, but a subsidiary of SFR will take care of sales and marketing, maintenance and network operations. Reliability is the order of the day, as the programme will be completed four years early. The last fibre access node was inaugurated last September and the final local connection point will be connected in early 2020. However, you can still come across teams working out in the field. Loïc Dupont, the director of the FttH project Axione, ran the Oise THD operation. He is here to fine-tune the final details prior to handover. Occasionally, bandwidth tests are inconclusive and some soldering has to be redone.
“It takes longer to build a fibre optic network in rural areas, but not necessarily because of the deployment. The studies are the most complicated part. You have to go and check the entire infrastructure throughout the department”, Loïc Dupont points out. The choice was made to go above ground on telegraph poles for half of it, and to use pre-existing underground passages. “ It’s also more expensive because fibre optic cables need to be laid to connect homes that are far apart and in very different locations. Public authorities are a vital element in instigating this kind of project”, he posits. The advantage in the Oise is that it is not rugged terrain, there is a relatively high population density in rural areas without too many completely isolated farms, making it a rural area that is easier to provide complete fibre coverage for than say, the Creuse or the Haute-Savoie departments.
10,000 km of fibre and 300,000 sockets were
rolled out in 643 municipalities at a cost of 300 million euros. A contribution
of 370 euros per socket was also requested at the inter-municipal level to
finance the connection to the subscribers’ homes. In the end, the average cost
per socket was 1200 euros per resident. “It is definitely expensive. But at least we can say that there is no
difference between residents, no matter where they are”, says Charles
Locquet enthusiastically as the Chairman of Oise Très Haut Débit and department
councillor. “The issue is about
territorial fairness. The most important thing is not to have two separate
Frances. It is crucial for everyone to be able to benefit from the same
connection quality in order to have access to education, culture, employment,
the chance to grow their business”, he stresses.
According to Arcep’s latest figures, 6.4 million homes
have signed up for a fibre subscription in France, and 16.7 million homes were
eligible for FttH as of the third quarter of 2019. So the majority of the
population of our country still needs to be covered by fibre networks, but not
in the rural Oise!
* 01net.com is edited by a subsidiary of NextRadioTV, which is itself wholly-owned by SFR Médias.
I am head of Human Resources for the Mégalis project in Brittany. I am in charge of recruitment, employee follow-up, and implementation of the social integration clause (clause d’insertion); I generally respond to all local HR issues.
How did you come to join Axione?
I already worked within the group. I was with Bouygues Construction from 2007. I was head of diversity and equal opportunities when I gained the opportunity to join Axione in 2015 through internal mobility. I was appointed Head of Human Resources for Ile-de-France Nord-Est, then for the Nord Pas-de-Calais rollout project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgKKN7gVPqo
Our commitment to the region The Hauts-de-France Digital Public Service Delegation
Has any project in particular stood out to you?
Beginning the project in Nord Pas-de-Calais actually! It was incredible! We had to fully set up two agencies. It was an extraordinary adventure. I’m now setting off for another major endeavour—the Mégalis Bretagne project. This project’s objective is to roll out fibre throughout Brittany as part of phases 2 and 3 of the Ultra-High Speed Brittany (Bretagne Très Haut Débit) project. We have 4 agencies to open and about 300 people to recruit.
What’s your passion?
I’ve always done lots of sport, all kinds, from dance to Krav Maga to cross-training… I finally started to run a few years ago. I immediately enjoyed it, and it helped me to meet other people through group runs. It’s easier running with others than alone—you can support one another!
How often do you train?
If I’m preparing for a race I try to run as much as possible, 3 times a week at least. During the week I try to run for about an hour, but on weekends I’ll do longer. I also do trail running, which lets me see more of the region while doing what I love. Since I arrived in Brittany I’ve done 3 trail runs!
Your best running memory?
La course du cœur!
This is a race that involves teams from numerous companies, and its aim is to raise awareness of organ donation and transplantation. It’s a relay lasting 4 days and 4 nights, starting in Paris and ending at Les Arcs in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, 800km away. A colleague who is a transplant recipient introduced me to this race 3 years ago. Since then, I’ve taken part every year!
What is the atmosphere like at this race?
It’s fantastic, everyone really pushes themselves! But la course du cœur is more than just a sporting event, it is a human experience above all else. Among the participants is a team of transplant recipients and a team of doctors specialising in transplants—we get to chat to them all and it’s really rewarding and emotional. There are also schools with acute awareness of the subject who come out to cheer us on along the way.
Any encounter that stands out as particularly memorable?
I think the first recipient we had, three years ago. He was waiting for a transplant and the day he got back from the race he found out that it was going to happen, it was really moving.
Is there an Axione “course de cœur” team?
For now I’m the only runner from Axione! I take part with two people from Bouygues Energies & Services. Other people from Bouygues Construction take part too. But I shall not despair! I will find other sportsmen and sportswomen so we can put together a full Axione team one day! If some of my colleagues are willing… 🙂
One step closer to “4G for all”: Axione erects its first antenna tower as part of the “New Mobile Deal”
The first antenna tower built by Axione as part of the NEW DEAL was erected on Thursday 9th January in the commune of BASTIDE PUY LAURENT, in Lozère (48)
This antenna tower was constructed by the Déploiement Initial Axione Sud Est team for our client Bouygues Telecom. It will bring 4G coverage to rural areas. This operation is part of the “New Mobile Deal”, which is an agreement that was entered into by the State and mobile network operators in January 2018. The latter are committed to rolling out superfast services throughout France. As the prime contractor working in the context of the “New Deal” project, Axione thus enables Bouygues Télécom to honour its commitments.
Did you know? In January 2018, ARCEP and the Government announced mobile network operator commitments that would hasten the rollout of mobile coverage throughout France’s regions. By the end of 2020, mobile network operators will have to provide superfast mobile (4G) services on their mobile networks in mainland France: All existing sites (including those that currently only have 2G and/or 3G capabilities) must be upgraded to a superfast mobile network. These rollouts will result in rapid increases in coverage—that’s 4G for everyone!
Digital network developer La Fibre Paloise has completed itsdeployment of fibre optic internet to cover 100% of the Pau Béarn Pyrénées agglomeration community. Almost 100,000 households and businesses will have access to superfast internet packages from all network operators.
A SIZEABLE CHALLENGE
For both the local government and the La Fibre Paloise company (the concession holder in
charge of the operation), this digital development initiative was a major
undertaking for the benefit of the local population, and represented a sizeable
challenge.
Residents of Pau and its
hinterland were all affected by the operation: Lons, Billère, Lescar, Bizanos
and Idron, as well as large portions of the towns of Gelos, Jurançon,
Mazères-Lezons and Lée.
TWELVE MONTHS TO BRING EVERYTHING UP TO CURRENT STANDARDS
In 2003, when regional
superfast FTTH (Fibre to the home) digital networks were first being rolled
out, the Pau Béarn Pyrénées Agglomeration was the first to take the leap.
Axione, then a young company, was selected to co-build infrastructure and carry
out its maintenance for 15 years as part of a public service concession.
Fifteen years later, as the concession contract was
renewed in 2018, the local government, which covers 31 communes with a combined
population of over 160,000, set a new challenge: within 12 months, the contractor was to bring the equipment up to
current standards—otherwise known as “reengineering”, which enables
new operators to access the system—and create additional connections to service
the entire centre of the agglomeration.
THE GAMBLE PAYS OFF
The project has now hit all its targets and achieved success: since mid-December, six townships have 100% fibre optic network coverage, with service packages available from all existing network operators.
MAKING WAY FOR NEW USES
Guiding the public and
professional users through new ways of using technology is a major priority for
La Fibre Paloise. Should they have queries, Pau residents have access to a
number of tools, such as one outlining the steps involved in connecting to the
network, as well as a dedicated hotline (0811 88 64 00 – €0.06 per minute +
cost of a local call) and a dedicated website for the project
(www.lafibrepaloise.fr).
In addition, a number of information campaigns have been deployed with the general public as their target audience. For example, on 14 and 15 December at the Tempo shopping centre in Pau, a connected home was set up in the commercial gallery in order to give shoppers a first-hand view of the uses and benefits of fibre optic internet. At the same time, service providers are ramping up their commercial operations aimed at residents and companies.
The connected home set up at Pau’s Tempo shopping centre
PROJECT BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
From the outset of the
project, a training and workplace integration platform has been established in
order to address communal needs. A partnership has been set up between Greta
Sud Aquitaine, the Lycée Saint Cricq in Pau and the Lycée Guyenemer in Oloron.
La Fibre Paloise had a contractual obligation to
provide 20,000 hours of work placements during the construction and
modernization of the network. This goal was surpassed by quite a margin, as by
the end of October 2019 over 26,500 hours had been logged. During the
network operational phase, La Fibre Paloise has committed to maintaining its
professional training and work experience efforts over the course of the next
few years.
Insourcing locally for all its areas of expertise
helps to foster a truly dynamic environment for local development. La Fibre Paloise and Axione are
still recruiting new talent in the area for the following roles:
Research officer,
Operations Foreman
Telecoms technicians
Maintenance & Repair operative
Sales staff and administrative personnel
Anyone interested in these roles can find out more
information in the careers section of the www.axione.fr website.
