The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep) and the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom, merger of CSA and Hadopi) have published their common usage guidelines digital. That study offers a global vision of digital practices and uses in France in 2020 and 2021.
It was initiated by the Arcep – Arcom digital hub, founded in March 2020. This hub should provide a better understanding of the economy of the French digital market. The two authorities consider that this work will improve the implementation of their new regulatory missions, in a sector in perpetual motion.
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What adoption and what coverage for very high speed internet?
According to Arcep and Arcom, the adoption and deployment of technologies allowing very high-speed Internet access are accelerating. Between the second quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2021, there was a 12% increase in internet subscriptions using optical fiber (+4.1 million subscriptions), bringing the share of very high-speed internet subscriptions to 54%. in France (12.4 million subscriptions).
Screenshot: Observatory of broadband and very high-speed fixed services; subscriptions and deployments for Q2 2021.
27 million homes and buildings can be connected to fiber optics, an increase of 6.2 million premises in one year. Arcep welcomes this figure, but wants to go even further to achieve fiber optic coverage on 100% of the territory by 2025. Last November, the authority presented its action plan for a better deployment of this technology comprising three main axes:
- Better communication between infrastructure operators and sales representatives thanks to an interoperator real-time notification tool. With this platform, all the actors allowing the installation of optical fiber in homes will be able to coordinate to accelerate its installation;
- Analyzing photo reports using artificial intelligence to improve fiber optic connections in the future;
- The rehabilitation of the oldest and most degraded infrastructures.
The coverage of 4G networks is also progressing since 99% of the population is covered by 4G outdoors. The territorial coverage rate in metropolitan France is 94%. At 79%, it is mobile customers who use 4G networks in France in 2021. We note that the players in improving the 4G network have particularly focused on rural areas and so-called “intermediate” areas, with dense areas being already well covered. White areas tend to disappear, one of the objectives of ending the digital divide in the country.
Unfortunately, the study does not take into account the deployment and acceleration of 5G. Yet it is one of Arcep’s priorities, under the impetus of its new president, Laure de La Raudière. Recently, the latter, with the help of the government, implemented two new measures so that industries and “vertical” players (local authorities, universities, research laboratories, etc.) can more easily use 5G . Thus, new bands (3.8 – 4.0 GHz) will be dedicated to them, while a portal will simplify access to the 2.6 GHz band.
The health crisis: catalyst for digital uses in France
With the health crisis and the successive confinements, many companies and individuals have turned to digital in order to continue their activities. Of course, one of the first actions that companies implemented during the March 2020 lockdown was teleworking. According to Arcep and Arcom, telework has made it possible to ” put the computer back at the center of internet usage in the face of smartphone competition.
Between 2019 and 2020, daily computer use increased by 19 points, from 47% to 66%. A progression which is also revealed through the equipment used to connect to the internet: the smartphone used to 51% to connect in 2019 against 31% for the computer gave way in 2020 with 43% of connection to the internet via computer against 41% for the smartphone. However, the smartphone remains the most used device on a daily basis : 78% of 12 years and over.
Screenshot: Digital Barometer – 2021 Edition; CREDOC study carried out on behalf of Arcep, CGE and ANCT.
All means of connecting to the internet at home have seen their use increase drastically, whether with a computer connected via an Ethernet cable or via Wi-Fi, with smartphones or with touch pads. These are used daily by 26% of the population aged 12 and over.
At the end of 2020, 92% of the French population regularly consults the internet. 67% say they have spent time on social media in the past 12 months. Other services have been acclaimed, due to the health context: videoconferencing and health applications achieved significant scores in 2020 and 2021. In 2021, TousAntiCovid was the most downloaded application.
Finally, the health crisis has accelerated the digitization of companies. 78% of VSE/SME managers believe that digital represents a real benefit for their structure, which represents a leap of 10 points in one year. 2 out of 3 companies will have their own website to present their activities in 2021, compared to 1 out of 3 companies in 2020. Companies are increasingly equipped with digital tools in order to meet constantly changing needs.
Screenshot: France Num – Barometer 2021, October 2021.
Focus on ecology: what impact of digital technology on the environment?
Arcep and Arcom have focused their attention on the environmental impact of digital uses, particularly with regard to digital equipment. 81% of digital greenhouse gas emissions come from digital devices, according to the report. Of all these greenhouse gas emissions, 23% come from televisions, 14% from laptops, 13% from smartphones and 12% from our internet boxes which are most often constantly on.
In their study, the French authorities take a closer look at the smartphone. Its holding period remains short, whether purchased new or used. Nearly 2 out of 3 smartphones are kept for less than two years, while a small minority (3 to 4%) is used for more than five years. After being used, smartphones are, for more than half of them, kept by their former users. In general, the user believes that the device could still be used in the future, in the event of a problem. It should be noted that more than one user in 4 gives or sells their phone and only 14% try to recycle it.
Screenshot: Digital Barometer – 2021 Edition; CREDOC study carried out on behalf of Arcep, CGE and ANCT.
On November 15, 2021, the law aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology was adopted. According to this, if nothing is done in the short term, digital technology will be the source of 24 million tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2040, which would correspond to 7% of France’s greenhouse gas emissions. Today digital represents 2%. In 2022, the Arcep – Arcom digital hub, with the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), should launch a study to further assess the impact of broadcasting and consuming audiovisual content.
According to Françoise Berthoud, computer scientist at Gricad, whose remarks were taken up by CNRS Journal, the new technologies sector would account for between 6 and 10% of global electricity consumption, or 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. Among the polluting technologies is cloud computing, used by companies to store or transfer large amounts of data, or blockchains used in particular for transactions via cryptocurrencies.
What are the compatibilities between the audiovisual sector and digital today?
With Covid-19 and the resulting health crisis, households spent more time in front of the small screen than usual. While the figure has been steadily declining, it has seen several spikes. In the heart of confinement, in April 2020, it exceeded 4.5 hours of average listening time per day. For this year 2021, the average individual viewing time amounts to 3 hours 42 per day, a level almost identical to that of December 2019.
But practices for consuming audiovisual content have evolved. Thanks to the arrival of smart TVs (or connected televisions), 86% of users of this type of television use replay television services, and 76% watch video content other than that of television channels. Many services are used to diversify content such as subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix, MyCanal, Prime Video, Salto or even Disney+.
Screenshot: Hadopi and CSA (newly Arcom), study on the proliferation of subscription video-on-demand services, development strategies and impact on usage.
Among the strategies implemented by users to optimize their consumption of various video content while limiting costs, account sharing is a common practice. More than half of subscribers to one or more SVOD services use account sharing, and 20% of them even share one of their accounts with people outside their household.
Despite the development of legal video-on-demand services, the illegal consumption of video content remains high. A sector where the most significant progress concerns live sports broadcasts, under the effect of the explosion of broadcasting rights. The anti-piracy law, promulgated on October 25, 2021, aims to strengthen the fight against these practices. Between January and February 2022, many consumers of these illegal services saw their streaming sites blocked by Arcom, at the request of BeIN Sport and Canal+, holders of most of the rights to broadcast sporting events in France.
Digital has imposed itself in the daily life of the French, of its youth, of the economy of the country and even of the continent with the emergence of debates around sovereignty. While the country is in the middle of the campaign for the presidential election, the presence of this issue nevertheless remains secondary. Be careful not to make digital one of the poor relations of the debates.