France

Europe

Last updated 14 Jun 2026

Population: 68.2M
FTTH coverage: ~90%+; of premises
Marseille rank: Top-tier; subsea hub
Copper: Retiring; phased switch-off
Internet users: 88.7%
Fixed broadband (per 100): 48.9

Overview

France is a European fibre success story. A decade of structured public-private investment under the Plan France Très Haut Débit delivered near-universal FTTH, and Marseille has emerged as a strategic landing point for cables connecting Europe with Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Population: 68.6M
Economy: $3.2T

Digital infrastructure summary

France has among the highest FTTH coverage of any large economy, and Marseille has grown into a top-tier subsea hub, increasingly paired with new data-centre capacity.

Fibre coverage: Near-universal FTTH availability

National broadband strategy

The Plan France Très Haut Débit combined private rollout, public co-investment and regional initiatives to bring fibre to essentially the entire country, with copper now being retired.

Ecosystem

Major operators

Orange

Data centres

Paris (PA) Campus

Subsea cable landings

SEA-ME-WE 6
2Africa
Africa-1
Africa Coast to Europe (ACE)
Amitie
Apollo
Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1)
Atlas Offshore
Blue
Calvi-St. Florent
Circe South
Corse-Continent 4 (CC4)
Corse-Continent 5 (CC5)
CrossChannel Fibre
Dunant
EMC West-2
FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1)
Groix 4
Hawk
High-capacity Undersea Guernsey Optical-fibre (HUGO)
IMEWE
India Europe Xpress (IEX)
INGRID
Îles d'Hyères Cable
Med Cable Network
Medloop
Medusa Submarine Cable System
PEACE Cable
Q&E South
Ruppione-Isolella
SARCO
SeaMeWe-4
SeaMeWe-5
SeaMeWe-6
TE North/TGN-Eurasia/SEACOM/Alexandros/Medex

Key cities

No data yet.

Projects

Plan France Très Haut Débit

Features 22 May 2026 · 5 min read

Marseille: the quiet gateway between three continents

Once a secondary landing point, the French port is now one of the most important subsea hubs linking Europe, Africa and Asia.

By Mei-Lin Tan · Connectivity Analyst