By providing a fibre connection for the village of Lormes, Axione has played a role in developing useful digital technology for local residents.

THE CHALLENGES

Lormes (1,400 inhabitants) is a rural community located in the Morvan Natural Park in Nièvre. It decided to experiment and prototype the “Villages of the Future” project, which involves imagining the rural communities of tomorrow and “designing” the social, economic, technological/digital and ecological future of villages.

The project aims to validate the technical components of a full fibre-optic rollout in a rural village and assess the conditions for setting up service platforms and developing digital practices.

In April 2014, NiverTel and Nièvre Numérique signed an agreement setting out the technical and organizational conditions for connecting the residents of Lormes to the fibre optic network.

THE BENEFITS

Thanks to Fibre to the Home (FTTH), 70% of the population now enjoys ultrafast broadband
for surfing the Internet more quickly and smoothly, as well as signing up to new services and
ways of using the Internet that are already operated in the community or planned for the
near future in a number of areas, such as:

  • intergenerational solidarity (the “Faire compagnie” scheme)
  • healthcare (a telemedicine scheme)
  • remote working (ultrafast broadband connection in the telecentre)
  • education / culture (a digital mini-campus and a video-entertainment scheme)
  • public services (online access to citizen’s rights and administrative procedures).

AXIONE’S COMMITMENT

“Projects such as the one we completed in Lormes are highly rewarding. In a community in the heart of the Morvan, digital infrastructures have helped create new ways of using digital technology, notably benefiting employment and solidarity, with the support of existing players. This is a fine example of a collective purpose, where the FTTH project has opened up new opportunities for a wide range of traditional activities.” Eric Jammaron, Vice-President of Axione Infrastructures

In October 2014, NiverTel installed an Optical Connection Node at the centre of the village, to which over 1024 optical sockets will be connected to enable the residents of Lormes to enjoy ultrafast broadband* and a range of digital services.

The installation is completely free for all residents with an Internet box to which they can connect their IT and mobile equipment, TV etc.

(*) Previously, local residents only had ADSL Internet access, whilst nearly half had access via Wimax and satellite.