Numericable loses lucrative Hauts-de-Seine fibre build

The local authorities of France’s important Hauts-de-Seine department to the West of Paris have rescinded an agreement with cable operator Numericable to build a high-speed fibre optic network to serve Hauts-de-Seine residents. 

The Hauts-de-Seine Conseil Général struck down the deal, worth several hundreds of millions of euros, on Friday. Sequalum, a company 95% owned by Numericable and 5% owned by SFR, had been contracted to build the high-speed network in 2007, with a completion date of 2015.

However, according to the Conseil Général president Patrick Devedjian, the operator hadn’t respected its commitments and had failed to make available the human and financial capital necessary to complete the work on time.

The densely populated Hauts-de-Seine is part of the Île-de-France region and includes the La Défense business district.